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HX Ideal commonwealths

806 [2nd ed.]

14

1886

cop. 2

IDEAL COMMONWEALTHS

IDEAL

COMMONWEALTHS

PLUTARCH'S LYCURGUS

MORE'S UTOPIA

BACON'S NEW ATLANTIS

CAMPANELLA'S CITY OF THE SUN

AND A FRAGMENT OF

HALL'S MUNDUS ALTER ET IDEM

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HENRY MO RLE Y

LL.D., LATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURB AT
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON

TENTH EDITION

LONDON : GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS LTD.
NEW YORK : E. P. DUTTON & CO.

HX

\

INTRODUCTION.

PLATO in his " Republic " argues that it is the aim of
Individual Man as of the State to be wise, brave and
temperate. In a State, he says, there are three orders, the
Guardians, the Auxiliaries, the Producers. Wisdom should
be the special virtue of the Guardians ; Courage of the
Auxiliaries; and Temperance of all. These three virtues
belong respectively to the Individual Man, Wisdom to his
Rational part ; Courage to his Spirited ; and Temperance to
his Appetitive; while in the State as in the Man it is
Injustice that disturbs their harmony.

Because the character of Man appears in the State
unchanged, but in a larger form, Plato represented Socrates
as studying the ideal man himself through an Ideal Com-
monwealth.

In another of his dialogues, " Critias/' of which we have
only the beginning, Socrates wishes that he could see how
such a commonwealth would work, if it were set moving.
Critias undertakes to tell him. For he has received tradition
of events that happened more than nine thousand years ago,
when the Athenians themselves were such ideal citizens.
Critias has received this tradition, he says, from a ninety-
year-old grandfather, whose father, Dropides, was the friend
of Solon. Solon, lawgiver and poet, had heard it from the
priests of the goddess Neith or Athene at Sais, and had
begun to shape it into a heroic poem.

This was the tradition : — Nine thousand years before the
time of Solon, the goddess Athene, who was worshipped
also in Sais, had given to her Athenians a healthy climate,
a fertile soil, and temperate people strong in wisdom and
courage. Their Republic was like that which Socrates
imagined, and it had to bear the shock of a great invasion
by the people of the vast island Atlantis. This island,
larger than all Libya and Asia put together, was once in
the sea westward beyond the Atlantic waves, — thus America
was dreamed of lona before it was discovered. Atlantis had

6 INTRODUCTION.

ten kings, descended from ten sons of Poseidon (Neptune),
who was the god magnificently worshipped by its people.
Vast power and dominion, that extended through all Libya
as far as Egypt, and over a part of Europe, caused the
Atlantid kings to grow ambitious and unjust. Then they
entered the Mediterranean and fell upon Athens with
enormous force. But in the little band of citizens, tem-
perate, brave, and wise, there were forces of Reason able to
resist and overcome brute strength. Now, however, gone
are the Atlantids, gone are the old virtues of Athens.
Earthquakes and deluges laid waste the world. The whole
great island of Atlantis, with its people and its wealth, sank
to the bottom of the ocean. The ideal warriors of Athens,
in one day and night, were swallowed by an earthquake,
and were to be seen no more.

Plato, a philosopher with the soul of a poet, died in the
year 347 before Christ. Plutarch was writing at the close of
the first century after Christ, and in his parallel Lives of
Greeks and Romans, the most famous of his many writings,
he took occasion to paint an Ideal Commonwealth as the
conception of Lycurgus, the half mythical or all mythical
Solon of Sparta. To Plutarch's Life of Lycurgus, as well
as to Plato, Thomas More and others have been indebted
for some part of the shaping of their philosophic dreams.

The discovery of the New World at the end of the fifteenth
century followed hard upon the diffusion of the new invention
of printing, and came at a time when the fall of Constantinople
by scattering Greek scholars, who became teachers in Italy,
France and elsewhere, spread the study of Greek, and caused
Plato to live again. Little had been heard of him through
the Arabs, who cared little for his poetic method. But with
the revival of learning he had become a force in Europe, a
strong aid to the Reformers.

Sir Thomas More's Utopia was written in the years
1515-16, when its author's age was about thirty-seven. He
was a young man of twenty when Columbus first touched the
continent named after the Florentine Amerigo Vespucci, who
made his voyages to it in the years 1499-1503. More wrote
his Utopia when imaginations of men were stirred by the
sudden enlargement of their conceptions of the world, and
Amerigo Vespucci's account of his voyages, first printed in
1507, was fresh in every scholar's mind. He imagined a
traveller, Raphael Hythloday — whose name is from Gretfc

INTR OD UCTION. 7

words that mean " Knowing in Trifles" — who had sailed
with Vespucci on his three last voyages, but had not returned
from the last voyage until, after separation from his comrades,
he had wandered into some farther discovery of his own.
Thus he had found, somewhere in those parts, the island of
Utopia. Its name is from Greek words meaning Nowhere.
More had gone on an embassy to Brussels with Cuthbert
Tunstal when he wrote his philosophical satire upon European,
and more particularly English, statecraft, in the form of an
Ideal Commonwealth described by Hythloday as he had
found it in Utopia. It was printed at Louvain in the latter
part of the year 1516, under the editorship of Erasmus, and
that enlightened young secretary to the municipality of Ant-
werp, Peter Giles, or ^Egidius, who is introduced into the
story. " Utopia " was not printed in England in the reign of
Henry VIII., and could not be, for its satire was too direct
to be misunderstood, even when it mocked English policy
with ironical praise for doing exactly what it failed to do.
More was a wit and a philosopher, but at the same time so
practical and earnest that Erasmus tells of a burgomaster at
Antwerp who fastened upon the parable of Utopia with such
goodwill that he learnt it by heart. And in 1517 Erasmus
advised a correspondent to send for Utopia, if he had not
yet read it, and if he wished to see the true source of all
political evils.

Francis Bacon's "New Atlantis," first written in Latin,
was published in 1629, three years after its author's death.
Bacon placed his Ideal Commonwealth in those seas where
a great Austral continent was even then supposed to be,
but had not been discovered. As the old Atlantis implied
a foreboding of the American continent, so the New
Atlantis implied foreboding of the Australian. Bacon in
his philosophy sought through experimental science the
dominion of men over things, " for Nature is only governed
by obeying her." In his Ideal World of the New Atlantis,
Science is made the civilizer who binds man to man, and
is his leader to the love of God.

Thomas Campanella was Bacon's contemporary, a man
only seven years younger ; and an Italian who suffered for
his ardour in the cause of science. He was born in Calabria
in ijj68, and died in 1639. He entered the Dominican
order when a boy, but had a free aijd eager appetite for
knowledge. He urged, like Bacon, that Nature should be

8 INTRODUCTION.

studied through her own works, not through books ; he
attacked, like Bacon, the dead faith in Aristotle, that instead
of following his energetic spirit of research, lapsed into
blind idolatry. Campanella strenuously urged that men
should reform all sciences by following Nature and the
books of God. He had been stirring in this way for ten
years, when there arose in Calabria a conspiracy against
the Spanish rule. Campanella, who was an Italian patriot
was seized and sent to Naples. The Spanish inquisition
joined in attack on him. He was accused of books he had
not written and of opinions he did not hold ; he was
seven times put to the question and suffered, with firmness
of mind, the most cruel tortures. The Pope interceded in
vain for him with the King of Spain. He suffered im-
prisonment for twenty-seven years, during which time he
wrote much, and one piece of his prison work was his ideal
of "The City of the Sun."

Released at last from his prison, Campanella went to
Rome, where he was defended by Pope Urban VIII. against
continued violence of attack. But he was compelled at last
to leave Rome, and made his escape as a servant in the
livery of the French ambassador. In Paris, Richelieu be-
came Campanula's friend ; the King of France gave him a
pension of three thousand livres ; the Sorbonne vouched for
the orthodoxy of his writings. He died in Paris, at the age
of seventy-one, in the Convent of the Dominicans.

Of Campanella's " Civitas Solis," which has not hitherto
been translated into English, the translation here given,
with one or two omissions of detail which can well be
spared, has been made for me by my old pupil and friend,
Mr. Thomas W. Halliday.

In the works (published in 1776) of the witty Dr. William
JCing, who played much with the subject of cookery, is a
fragment found among his remaining papers, and given by
his editors as an original piece in the manner of Rabelais.
It seems never to have been observed that this is only a
translation of that part of Joseph Hall's " Mundus Alter es
Idem," which deals with the kitchen side of life. The frag-
ment will be found at the end of this volume, preceded by a
short description of the other parts of Hall's World which is
other than ours, and yet the same.

H. M.

March 1885.

PLUTARCH'S
LIFE OF LYCURGUS.

LIFE OF LYCURGUS.

OF Lycurgus the lawgiver we have nothing to relate that is
certain and uncontro verted. For there are different accounts
of his birth, his travels, his death, and especially of the laws
and form of government which he established. But least
of all are the times agreed upon in which this great man
lived. For some say he flourished at the same time with
Iphitus, and joined with him in settling the cessation of
arms during the Olympic games. Among these is Aristotle
the philosopher, who alleges for proof an Olympic quoit, on
which was preserved the inscription of Lycurgus's name.
But others who, with Eratosthenes and Apollodorus, com-
pute the time by the succession of the Spartan kings, place
him much earlier than the first Olympiad. Timaeus, how-
ever, supposes that, as there were two Lycurguses in Sparta
at different times, the actions of both are ascribed to one,
on account of his particular renown ; and that the more
ancient of them lived not long after Homer : nay, some say
he had seen him. Xenophon too confirms the opinion of
his antiquity, when he makes him cotemporary with the
Heraclidae. It is true, the latest of the Lacedaemonian
kings were of the lineage of the Heraclidae ; but Xenophon
there seems to speak of the first and more immediate
descendants of Hercules. As the history of those times is
thus involved, in relating the circumstances of Lycurgus's

12 LIFE OF LYCURGUS.

life, we shall endeavour to select such as ^re least contro-
verted, and follow authors of the greatest credit. &

Simonides the poet, tells us, that Prytanis, not Eunomus,
was father to Lycurgus. But most writers give us the
genealogy of Lycurgus and Eunomus in a different manner ;
for, according to them, Sous was the son of Patrocles, and
grandson of Aristodemus, Eurytion the son of Sous, Prytanis
of Eurytion, and Eunomus of Prytanis ; to this Eunomus
was bom Polydectes, by a former wife, and by a second,
named Dianassa, Lycurgus. Eutychidas, however, says
Lyeurgus was the sixth from Patrocles, and the eleventh
from Hercules. The most distinguished of his ancestors
was Sous, under whom the Lacedaemonians made the
Helotes their slaves, and gained an extensive tract of land
from the Arcadians. Of this Sous it is related, that, being
besieged by the Clitorians in a difficult post where there
was no water, he agreed to give up all his conquests,
provided that himself and all his army should drink of the
neighbouring spring. When these conditions were sworn
to, he assembled his forces, and offered his kingdom to the
man that would forbear drinking ; not one of them, how-
ever, would deny himself, but they all drank. Then Sous
went down to the spring himself, and having only sprinkled
his face in sight of the enemy, he marched off, and still
held the country, because all had not drank. Yet, though
he was highly honoured for this, the family had not their
name from him, but from his son, were called Eurytionidae ;
and this, because Eurytion seems to be the first who
relaxed the strictness of kingly government, inclining to the
interest of the people, and ingratiating himself with them.
Upon this relaxation iheir encroachments increased, and
the succeeding kings, either becoming odious, treating them
with greater rigour, or else giving way through weakness or
in hopes of favour, for a long time anarchy and confusion
prevailed in Soarta; by which one of its kings, the father of

LIFE OF LYCURGUS. 13

Lycurgus, lost his life. For while he was endeavouring to
part some persons who were concerned in a fray, he
received a wound by a kitchen knife, of which he died,
leaving the kingdom to his eldest son Polydectes.
-^But he too dying soon after, the general voice gave it for
Lycurgus to ascend the throne ; and he actually did so, till
it appeared that his brother's widow was pregnant. As
soon as he perceived this, he declared that the kingdom
belonged to her issue, provided it were male, and he kept
the administration in his hands only as his guardian. This
he did with the title of Prodicos, which the Lacedemonians
give to the guardians of infant kings. Soon after, the queen
made him a private overture, that she would destroy her
child, upon condition that he would marry her when king
of Sparta. Though he detested her wickedness, he said
nothing against the proposal, but pretending to approve it,
charged her not to take any drugs to procure an abortion,
lest she should endanger her own health or life ; for he
would take care that the child, as soon as born, should be
destroyed. Thus he artfully drew on the woman to her full
time, and, when he heard she was in labour, he sent persons
to attend and watch her delivery, with orders, if it were a
girl, to give it to the women, but if a boy, to bring it to him,
in whatever business he might be engaged. It happened
that he was at supper with the magistrates when she was
delivered of a boy, and his servants, who were present,
carried the child to him. When he received it, he is
reported to have said to the company, " Spartans, see here
your new-born king." He then laid him down upon the
chair of state, and named him Charilaus, because of the joy
and admiration of his magnanimity and justice testified by
all present. Thus the reign of Lycurgus lasted only eight
months. But the citizens had a great veneration for him
on other accounts, and there were more that paid him their
attentions, and were ready to execute his cofminiids, out of

14 LIFE OF LYCURGUS.

regard to his virtues, than those that obeyed him as a
guardian to the king, and director of the administration.
There were not, however, wanting those that envied him,
and opposed his advancement, as too high for so young a
man ; particularly the relations and friends of the queen -
mother, who seemed to have been treated with contempt.
Her brother Leonidas, one day boldly attacked him with
virulent language, and scrupled not to tell him that he was
well assured he would soon be king; thus preparing
suspicions, and matter of accusation against Lycurgus, in
case any accident should befall the king. Insinuations of
the same kind were likewise spread by the queen-mother.
Moved with this ill-treatment, and fearing some dark design,
he determined to get clear of all suspicion, by travelling
into other countries, till his nephew should be grown up,
and have a son to succeed him in the kingdom.

He set sail, therefore, and landed in Crete. There having
observed the forms of government, and conversed with the
most illustrious personages, he was struck with admiration
of some of their laws, and resolved at his return to make
use of them in Sparta. Some others he rejected. Among
the friends he gained in Crete was Thales, with whom he
had interest enough to persuade him to go and settle at
Sparta. Thales was famed for his wisdom and political
abilities : he was withal a lyric poet, who under colour of
exercising his art, performed as great things as the most
exellent lawgivers. For his odes were so many persuasives
to obedience ami unanimity, as by means of melody and
numbers they had great grace and power, they softened
insensibly the manners of the audience, drew them off from
the animosities which then prevailed, and united them in
zeal for excellence and virtue. So that, in some measure,
he prepared the way for Lycurgus towards the instruction of
the Spartans. From Crete Lycurgus passed to Asia,
desirous, as is said, to compare the Ionian expense and

LIFE OF LYCURGUS. 15

luxury with the Cretan frugality and hard diet, so as to
judge what effect each had on their several manners and
governments ; just as physicians compare bodies that atf
weak and sickly with the healthy and robust. There also,
probably, he met with Homer's poems, which were pre-
served by the posterity of Cleophylus. Observing that
many moral sentences and much political knowledge were
intermixed with his stories, which had an irresistible charm,
he collected them into one body, and transcribed them with
pleasure, in order to take them home with him. For his
glorious poetry was not yet fully known in Greece ; only
some particular pieces were in a few hands, as they
happened to be dispersed. Lycurgus was the first that
made them generally known. The Egyptians likewise
suppose that he visited them \ and as of all their institutions
he was most pleased with their distinguishing the military
men from the rest of the people, he took the same method
at Sparta, and, by separating from these the mechanics and
artificers, he rendered the constitution more noble and
more of a piece. This assertion of the Egyptians is
confirmed by some of the Greek writers. But we know of
no one, except Aristocrates, son of Hipparchus, and a
Spartan, who has affirmed that he went to Libya and Spain,
and in his Indian excursions conversed with the Gymnoso-
phists.

The Lacedaemonians found the want of Lycurgus when
absent, and sent many embassies to entreat him to return.
For they perceived that their kings had barely the title and
outward appendages of royalty, but in nothing else differed
from the multitude; whereas Lycurgus had abilities from
nature to guide the measures of government, and powers of
persuasion, that drew the hearts of men to him. The kings,
however, where consulted about his return, and they hoped
that in his presence they should experience less insolence
amongst the people. Returning then to a city thus disposed,

16 LIFE OF LYCURGUS.

he immediately applied himself to alter the whole frame of
the constitution ; sensible that a partial change, and the
introducing of some new laws, would be of no sort of
advantage; but, as in the case of a body diseased and full
of bad humours, whose temperament is to be corrected and
new formed by medicines, it was necessary to begin a new
regimen. With these sentiments he went to Delphi, and
when he had offered and consulted the god, he returned
with that celebrated oracle, in which the priestess called him
" Beloved of the gods, and rather a god than a man." As
to his request that he might enact good laws, she told him,
Apollo had heard his request, and promised that the con-
stitution he should establish would be the most excellent in
the world. Thus encouraged, he applied to the nobility,
and desired them to put their hands to the work ; addressing
himself privately at first to his friends, and afterwards by
degrees, trying the disposition of others, and preparing them
to concur in the business. When matters were ripe, he
ordered thirty of the principal citizens to appear armed in
the market-place by break of day, to strike terror into
such as might desire to oppose him. Hermippus has given
us the names of twenty of the most eminent of them ; but
he that had the greatest share in the whole enterprise, and
gave Lycurgus the best assistance in the establishing of his
laws, was called Arithmiades. Upon the first alarm, king
Charilaus, apprehending it to be a design against his person,
took refuge in the Chalcioicos. But he was soon satisfied,
and accepted of their oath. Nay, so far from being obstinate,
he joined in the undertaking. Indeed, he was so remarkable
for the gentleness of his disposition, that Archelaus, his
partner in the throne, is reported to have said to some that
were praising the young king, " Yes, Charilaus is a good man
to be sure, who cannot find in his heart to punish the bad."
a/. Among the many new institutions of Lycurgus, the first and
"most important was that of a senate ; which sharing, as Plato

:

jj<

i

as

LIFE OF LYCURGUS. 17

says, in the power of the kings, too imperious and un-
restrained before, and having equal authority with them, was
the means of keeping them within the bounds of moderation,
and highly contributed to the preservation of the state. For
before it had been veering and unsettled^ sometimes inclin-
ing to arbitrary power, and sometimes towards a pure demo-
cracy ; but this establishment of a senate, an intermediate
body, like ballast, kept it in a just equilibrium, and put ii
in a safe posture : the twenty-eight senators adhering to the
kings, whenever they saw the people too encroaching, and,
on the other hand, supporting the people, when the kings
attempted to make themselves absolute. This, according to
Aristotle, was the number of senators fixed upon, .because
two of the thirty associates of Lycurgus deserted the business
through fear. But Sphaarus tells us there were only twenty-
eight at first entrusted with the design. Something, perhaps,
there is in its being a perfect number, formed of seven mul-
tiplied by four, and withal the first number, after six, that is
equal to all its parts. But I rather think, just so many
senators were created, that, together with the two kings, the
whole body might consist of thirty members.

He had this institution so much at heart, that he obtained
m Delphi an oracle in its behalf, called rhefra, or the
decree. This was couched in very ancient and uncommon
terms, which interpreted, ran thus : " When you have built
a temple to the Syllanian Jupiter, and the Syllanian Minerva,
divided the people into tribes and classes, and established
a senate of thirty persons, including the two kings, you shall
occasionally summon the people to an assembly between
Babyce and Cnacion, and they shall have the determining
voice." Babyce and Cnacion are now called Oenus. But
ristotle thinks, by Cnacion is meant the river, and
>y Babyce the bridge. Between these they held their
assemblies, having neither halls, nor any kind of building
for that purpose. These things he thought of no advantage

,8 1JFK ^F LYCURGUS.

to their councils, but rather a disservice > as they distracted
the attention, and turned it upon trifles, on observing the
statues and pictures, the splendid roofs, and every other
theatrical ornament. The people thus assembled had no
right to propose any subject of debate, and were only
authorized to ratify or reject what might be proposed to
them by the senate and the kings. But because, in process
of time, the people, by additions or retrenchments, changed
the terms, and perverted the sense of the decrees, the kings
Polydorus and Theopompus inserted in the rhetra this clause :
"If the people attempt to corrupt any law, the senate and
chiefs shall retire : " that is, they shall dissolve the assembly,
and annul the alterations. And they found means to per-
suade the Spartans that this too was ordered by Apollo ; as
we learn from these verses of Tyrtaeus :

Ye sons of Sparta, who at Phoebus' shrine
Your humble vows prefer, attentive hear
The god's decision. O'er your beauteous lands
Two guardian kings, a senate, and the voice
Of the concurring people, lasting laws
Shall with joint power establish.

Though the government was thus tempered by Lycurgus,
yet soon after it degenerated into an oligarchy, whose power
was exercised with such wantonness and violence, that it
wanted indeed a bridle, as Plato expresses it. This curb
they found in the authority of the Ephori, about a hundred
and thirty years after Lycurgus. Elatus was the first in-
vested with this dignity, in the reign of Theopompus ; who,
when his wife upbraided him, that he would leave the regal
power to his children less than he received it, replied, " Nay
but .greater, because more lasting." And, in fact, the prero-
gative, so stripped of all extravagant pretensions, no longer
occasioned either envy or danger to its possessors. By these
means they escaped the miseries which befell the Messenian
and Argive kings, who would not in the least relax the

LIFE OF L YCURGUS. 19

severity of their power in favour of the people. Indeed,
from nothing more does the wisdom and foresight of
Lycurgus appear, than from the disorderly governments, and
the bad understanding that subsisted between the kings and
people of Messena and Argos, neighbouring states, and
related in blood to Sparta. For, as at first they were in all
respects equal to her, and possessed of a better country, and
yet preserved no lasting happiness, but, through the insolence
of the kings and disobedience of the people, were harassed
with perpetual troubles, they made it very evident" that it
was really a felicity more than human, a blessing from
heaven to the Spartans, to have a legislator who knew so
well how to frame and temper their government. But this
was an event of a later date.

A second and bolder political enterprise of Lycurgus was
a new division of the lands. For he found a prodigious in-
equality, the city overcharged with many indigent persons,
who had no land, and the wealth centred in the hands of a
few. Determined, therefore, to root out the evils of in-
solence, envy, avarice, and luxury, and those distempers of
a state still more inveterate and fatal, I mean poverty and
riches, he persuaded them to cancel all former divisions of
land, and to make new ones, in such a manner that they
might be perfectly equal in their possessions and way of
living. Hence, if they were ambitious of distinction they
might seek it in virtue, as no other difference was left
between them but that which arises from the dishonour of
base actions and the praise of good ones. His proposal
was put in practice. He made nine thousand lots for the
territory of Sparta, which he distributed among so many
citizens, and thirty thousand for the inhabitants of the rest
ofLaconia. But some say he made only six thousand
shares for the city, and that Polydorus added three thousand
afterwards ; others, that Polydorus doubled the number
appointed by Lycurgus, which were only four thousand fiv^

20 LIFE OF LYCURGU3.

hundred. Each lot was capable of producing (one yeai
with another) seventy bushels of grain for each man, and
twelve for each woman, besides a quantity of wine and oil
in proportion, Such a provision they thought sufficient for
health and a good habit of body, and they wanted nothing
more. A story goes of our legislator, that some time after
returning from a journey through the fields just reaped, and
seeing the shocks standing parallel and equal, he smiled,
and said to some that were by, " How like is Laconia to an
estate newly divided among many brothers ! "

After this, he attempted to divide also the movables, in
order to take away all appearance of inequality ; but he soon
perceived that they could not bear to have their goods
directly taken from them, and therefore took another
method, counterworking their avarice by a stratagem. First
he stopped the currency of the gold and silver coin, and
ordered that they should make use of iron money only, then
to a great quantity and weight of this he assigned but a
small value ; so that to lay up ten mina^ a whole room was
required, and to remove it, nothing less than a yoke of
oxen. When this became current, many kinds of injustice
ceased in Lacedsemon. Who would steal or take a bribe,
who would defraud or rob, when he could not conceal the
booty ; when he could neither be dignified by the possession
of it, nor if cut in pieces be served by its use ? For we are
told that when hot, they quenched it in vinegar, to make it
brittle and unmalleable, and consequently unfit for any
other service. In the next place, he excluded unprofitable
and superfluous arts : indeed, if he had not done this, most
of them would have foUen of themselves, when the new
money took place, as the manufactures could not be dis-
posed of. Their iron coin would not pass in the rest of
Greece, but was ridiculed and despised ; so that the Spartans
had no means of purchasing any foreign or curious wares ;
3Qr did any merchant-ship unlade in their harbours. There

LIFE OF LYCURGtfS. 21

were not even to be found in all their country either sophists,
wandering fortune-tellers, keepers of infamous houses, or
dealers in gold and silver trinkets, because there was no
money. Thus luxury, losing by degrees the means that
cherished and supported it, died away of itself: even they
who had great possessions, had no advantage from them,
since they could not be displayed in public, but must lie
useless, in unregarded repositories. Hence it was, that
excellent workmanship was shown in their useful and
necessary furniture, as beds, chairs, and tables ; and the
Lacedaemonian cup called cotton, as Critias informs us, was
highly valued, particularly in campaigns : for the water,
which must then of necessity be drank, though it would
often otherwise offend the sight, had its muddiness con-
cealed by the colour of the cup, and the thick part stopping
at the shelving brim, it came clearer to the lips. Of these
improvements the lawgiver was the cause ; for the workmen
having no more employment in matters of mere curiosity,
showed the excellence of their art in necessary things.

Desirous to complete the conquest of luxury, and exter-
minate the love of riches, he introduced a third institution,
which was wisely enough and ingeniously contrived. This
was the use of public tables, where all were to eat in common
of the same meat, and such kinds of it as were appointed by
law. At the same time they were forbidden to eat at home,
upon expensive couches and tables, to call in the assistance
of butchers and cooks, or to fatten like voracious animals in
private. For so not only their manners would be corrupted,
but their bodies disordered ; abandoned to all manner of
sensuality and dissoluteness, they would require long sleep,
warm baths, and the same indulgence as in perpetual sick-
ness. To effect this was certainly very great ; but it was
greater still, to secure riches from rapine and from envy, as
Theophrastus expresses- it, or rather by their eating in
common, and by the frugality of their table, to take from

;

22 LIFE OF LYCURGUS.

riches their very being. For what use or enjoyment of them,
what peculiar display of magnificence could there be, where
the poor man went to the same refreshment with the rich ?
Hence the observation, that it was only at Sparta where
Plutus (according to the proverb) was kept blind, and like
an image, destitute of life or motion. It must further be
observed, that they had not the privilege to eat at home,
and so to come without appetite to the public repast : they
made a point of it to observe any one that did not eat and
drink with them, and to reproach him as an intemperate
and effeminate person that was sick of the common diet.

The rich, therefore (we are told), were more offended with
this regulation than with any other, and, rising in a body,
they loudly expressed their indignation : nay, they proceeded
so far as to assault Lycurgus with stones, so that he was
forced to fly from the assembly and take refuge in a temple.
Unhappily, however, before he reached it, a young man
named Alcander, hasty in his resentments, though not
otherwise ill-tempered, came up with him, and, upon his
turning round, struck out one of his eyes with a stick.
Lycurgus then stopped short, and, without giving way to
passion, showed the people his eye beat out, and his face
streaming with blood. They were so struck with shame and
sorrow at the sight, that they surrendered Alcander to him,
and conducted him home with the utmost expressions of
regret. Lycurgus thanked them for their care of his person,
and dismissed them all except Alcander. He took him into
his house, but showed no ill treatment either by word or
action ; only ordering him to wait upon him, instead of his
usual servants and attendants. The youth, who was of an
ingenuous disposition, without murmuring, did as he was
commanded. Living in this manner with Lycurgus, and
having an opportunity to observe the mildness and goodness
of his heart, his strict temperance and indefatigable industry,
he told his friends that Lycurgus was not that proud and

LIFE OF LVCURCUS. a 3

Severe man he might have been taken for, but, above all
others, gentle and engaging in his behaviour. ' This, then,
was the chastisement, and this punishment he suffered, of a
wild and headstrong young man to become a very modest
and prudent citizen. In memory of his misfortune, Lycurgus
built a temple to Minerva Optiletis, so called by him from a
term which the Dorians use for the eye. Yet Dioscorides,
who wrote a treatise concerning the Lacedaemonian govern-
ment, and others, relate that his eye was hurt, but not put
out, and that he built the temple in gratitude to the goddess
for his cure. However, the Spartans never carried staves to
their assemblies afterwards.

The public repasts were called by the Cretans Andria ;
but the Lacedaemonians styled them Phiditia, either from
their tendency to friendship and mutual benevolence,
phiditia being used instead of philitia ; or else from their
teaching frugality and parsimony, which the word pheido
signifies. But it is not all impossible that the first letter
might by some means or other be added, and so phiditia
take place of editia, which barely signifies eating. There
were fifteen persons to a table, or a few more or less. Each
of them was obliged to bring in monthly a bushel of meal,
eight gallons of wine, five pounds of cheese, two pounds
and a half of figs, and a little money to buy flesh and fish.
If any of them happened to offer a sacrifice of first fruits, or
to kill venison, he sent a part of it to the public table : for
after a sacrifice or hunting, he was at liberty to sup at home :
but the rest were to appear at .the usual place. For a long
time this eating in common was observed with great exact-
ness : so that when king Agis returned from a successful
expedition against the Athenians, and from a desire to sup
with his wife, requested to have his portion at home, the
Polemarch.s refused to send it : nay, when, through resent
ment, he neglected, the day following, to offerthe -sacrifice
usual on occasion of victory, they set a fine upon him.

24 LIFE OF LYCURGUS.

\^

Children also were introduced at these public tables, as So
many schools of sobriety. There they heard discourses
concerning government, and were instructed in the most
liberal breeding. There they were allowed to jest without
scurrility, and were not to take it ill when the raillery was
returned. For it was reckoned worthy of a Lacedaemonian
to bear a jest : but if any one's patience failed, he had only
to desire them to be quiet, and they left off immediately.
When they first entered, the oldest man present pointed to
the door, and said, " Not a word spoken in this company
goes out there." The admitting of any man to a particular
table was under the following regulation. Each member of
that small society took a little ball of soft bread in his hand.
This he was to drop, without saying a word, into a vessel
called caddos, which the waiter carried upon his head. In
case he approved of the candidate, he did it without alter-
ing the figure, if not, he first pressed it flat in his hand ; for
a flatted ball was considered as a negative. And if but one
such .was found, the person was not admitted, as they
thought it proper that the whole company should be satisfied
with each other. He who thus rejected, was said to have
no luck in the caddos. The dish that was in the highest-
esteem amongst them was the black broth. The old men
were so fond of it that they ranged themselves on one side
and eat it, leaving the meat to the young people. It is
related of a king of Pontus, that he purchased a Lacedae-
monian cook, for the sake of this broth. But \vhen he came
to taste it he strongly expressed his dislike ; and the cook
made answer, " Sir, to make this broth relish, it is necessary
first to bathe in the Eurotas."" After they had drank
moderately, they went home without lights. Indeed, they
were forbidden to walk with a light either on this or any other
occasion, that they might accustom themselves to march in
the darkest night boldly and resolutely. Such was the order
of their public repasts.

LIFE OF LYCURGUS. 25

Lycurgus left none of his laws in writing ; it was ordered
in one of the Rhetrce that none should be written. For
what he thought most conducive to the virtue and happi-
ness of a city, was principles interwoven with the manners
and breeding of the people. These would remain immov-
able, as founded in inclination, and be the strongest and
most lasting tie ; and the habits which education produced
in the youth, would answer in each the purpose of a law-
giver. As for smaller matters, contracts about property, and
whatever occasionally varied, it was better not to reduce
these to a written form and unalterable method, but to
suffer them to change with the times, and to admit of addi-
tions or retrenchments at the pleasure of persons so well
educated. For he resolved the whole business of legisla-
tion into the bringing up of youth. And this, as we have
observed, was the reason why one of his ordinances forbad
them to have any written laws.

Another ordinance levelled against magnificence and
expense, directed that the ceilings of houses should be
wrought with no tool but the axe and the doors with nothing
but the saw. For, as Epaminondas is reported to have said
terwards, of his table, ''Treason lurks, not under such a
mer," so Lycurgus perceived before him, that such a house
Imits of no luxury and needless splendour. Indeed, no
in could be so absurd as to bring into a dwelling so
>mely and simple, bedsteads with silver feet, purple cover-
3, golden cups, and a train of expense that follows these :
it all would necessarily have the bed suitable to the room,
coverlet of the bed and the rest of their utensils and
rniture to that. From this plain sort of dwellings, pro-
led the question of Leotychidas the elder to his host,
,rhen he supped at Corinth, and saw the ceiling of the room
y splendid and curiously wrought, " Whether trees grew
square in his country."

A third ordinance of Lycurgus was, that they should not

56 LIFE Of LYCURGUS.

often make war against the same enemy, lest, by being fre-
quently put upon defending themselves, they too should
become able warriors in their turn. And this they most
blamed king Agesilaus for afterwards, that by frequent and
continued incursions into Boeotia, he taught the Thebans
to make head against the Lacedaemonians. This made
Antalcidas say, when he saw him wounded, " The Thebans
pay you well for making them good soldiers who neither
were willing nor able to fight you before." These ordinances
lie called Rhctra, as if they had been oracles and decrees of
the Deity himself.

As for the education of youth, which he looked upon as
the greatest and most glorious work of a lawgiver, he began
with it at the very source, taking into consideration their
conception and birth, by regulating the marriages. For he
did not (as Aristotle says) desist from his attempt to bring
the women under sober rules. They had, indeed, assumed
great liberty and power on account of the frequent expedi-
tions of their husbands, during which they were left sole
mistresses at home, and so gained an undue deference and
improper titles; but notwithstanding this he took all possible
care of them. He ordered the virgins to exercise themselves
in running, wrestling, and throwing quoits and darts ; that
their bodies being strong and vigorous, the children after-
wards produced from them might be the same ; and that,
thus fortified by exercise, they might the better support the
pangs of child-birth, and be delivered with safety. In order
to take away the excessive tenderness and delicacy of the
sex, the consequence of a recluse life, he accustomed the
virgins occasionally to be seen naked as well as the youug
men, and to dance and sing in their presence on certain
festivals. There they sometimes indulged in a little raillery
upon those that had misbehaved themselves, and sometimes
they sung encomiums on such as deserved them, thus excit-
ing in the young men a useful emulation and love of glory.

LIFE OF LYCURGUS. 27

For he who was praised for his bravery and celebrated
among the vfrgins, went away perfectly happy : while their
satirical glances thrown out in sport, were no less cutting
than serious admonitions ; especially as the kings and
senate went with the other citizens to see all that passed.
As for the virgins appearing naked, there was nothing dis-
graceful in it, because everything was conducted with
modesty, and without one indecent word or action. Nay, it
caused a simplicity of manners and an emulation for the
best habit of body ; their ideas too were naturally enlarged,
while they were not excluded from their share of bravery
and honour. Hence they were furnished with sentiments
and language, such as Gorgo the wife of Leonidas is said to
have made use of. When a woman of another country said
to her, "You of Lacedaemon are the only women in the
world that rule the men :" she answered, " We are the only
women that bring forth men."

These public dances and other exercises of the young
maidens naked, in sight of the young men, were, moreover,
incentives to marriage : and, to use Plato's expression, drew
them almost as necessarily by the attractions of love, as a
geometrical conclusion follows fro ill the premises. To
encourage it still more, some marks of infamy were set upon
those that continued bachelors. For they were not per-
mitted to see these exercises of the naked virgins ; and the
magistrates commanded them to march naked round the
market-place in the winter, and to sing a song composed
against themselves, which expressed how justly they were
punished for their disobedience to the laws. They were
also deprived of that honour and respect which the younger
people paid to the old ; so that nobody found fault with
what was said to Dercyllidas, though an eminent commander.
It seems, when he came one day into company, a young
man, instead of rising up and giving place, told him, *' You
have no child to give place to me, when I arn old."

ig LIFE OF LYCURGUS.

In their marriages, the bridegroom carried off the bride by
violence ; and she was never chosen in a tender age, but
when she had arrived at full maturity. Then the woman
that had the direction of the wedding, cut the bride's hair
close to the skin, dressed her in man's clothes, laid her
upon a mattrass, and left her in the dark. The bridegroom,
neither oppressed with wine nor enervated with luxury, but
perfectly sober, as having always supped at the common
table, went in privately, untied her girdle, and carried her
to another bed. Having stayed there a short time, he
modestly retired to his usual apartment, to sleep with the
other young men ; and observed the same conduct after-
wards, spending the day with his companions, and reposing
himself with them in the night, nor even visiting his bride
but with great caution and apprehensions of being dis-
covered by the rest of the family ; the bride at the same
time exerted all her art to contrive convenient opportunities
for their private meetings^ And this they did not for a
short time only, but some of them even had children before
they had an interview with their wives in the daytime^
This kind of commerce not only exercised their temperance
and chastity, but kept their bodies fruitful, and the first
ardour of their love fresh and unabated ; for as they were
not satiated like those that are always with their wives, there
still was place for unextinguished desire./ When he had
thus established a proper regard to modesty and decorum-
with respect to marriage, he was equally studious to drive
from that state the vain and womanish passion of jealousy;
by making it quite as reputable to have children in common
with persons of merit, as to avoid all offensive freedom in
their own behaviour to their wives. He laughed at those
who revenge with wars and bloodshed the communication
of a married woman's favours ; and allowed, that if a man
in years should have a young wife, he might introduce to
her some handsome and honest young man, whom he most

I

:

LIFE OF LYCURGUS. 29

approved of, and when she had a child of this generous
race, bring it up as his owiy On the other hand, he allowed,
that if a man of character should entertain a passion for a
married woman on account of her modesty and the beauty
of her children, he might treat with her husband for admis-
sion to her company, that so planting, in a beauty-bearing
soil, he might produce excellent children, the congenial off-
spring of excellent parents. For, in the first place, Lycurgus
considered children, not so much the property of their
parents as of the state ; and therefore he would not have
them begot by ordinary persons, but by the best men in it.
In the next place, he observed the vanity and absurdity of
other nations, where people study to have their horses and
dogs of the finest breed they can procure either by interest
or money ; and yet keep their wives shut up, that they may
have children by none but themselves, though they may
happen to be doting, decrepit, or infirm. As if children,
when sprung from a bad stock, and consequently good for
nothing, were no detriment to those whom they belong to,
and who have the trouble of bringing them up, nor any ad-
vantage, when well descended and of a generous disposition*
These regulations tending to secure a healthy offspring, and
onsequently beneficial to the state, were so far from en-
uraging that licentiousness of the women which prevailed
erwards, that adultery was not known amongst them. A
saying, upon this subject of Geradas, an ancient Spartan, is
thus related. A stranger had asked him, " What punish-
ent their law appointed for adulterers ? " He answered,
My friend, there are no adulterers in our country." The
ther replied, " But what if there should be one?" " Why
then," says Geradas, " he must forfeit a bull so large that
he might drink of the Eurotas from the top of Mount
Taygetus." When the stranger expressed his surprise
at this, and said, " How can such a bull be found ? "
Qeradas answered with a. smile, "How cati an adulterer

30 LIFE OF LYCURGUS.

be found in Sparta ? " This is the account we have of their
marriages,

It was not left to the father to rear what children he
pleased, but he was obliged to carry the child to a place
called Lesche, to be examined by the most ancient men of
the tribe, who were assembled there. If it was strong and
well-proportioned, they gave orders for its education, and
assigned it one of the nine thousand shares of land ; but if
it was weakly and deformed, they ordered it to be thrown into
the place called Apothetae, which is a deep cavern near the
mountain Taygetus ; concluding that its life could be no ad-
vantage either to itself or to the public, since nature had
not given ft at first any strength or goodness of constitution.
For the same reason the women did not wash their new-born
infants with water, but with wine, thus making some trial of
their habit of body; imagining that sickly and epileptic
children sink and die under the experiment, while healthy
became more vigorous and hardy. Great care and art was
also exerted by the nurses ; for, as they never swathed the
infants, their limbs had a freer turn, and their countenances
a more liberal air; besides, they used them to any sort of
meat, to have no terrors in the dark, nor to be afraid of
being alone, and to leave all ill humour and unmanly cry-
ing. Hence people of other countries purchased Lacedae-
monian nurses for their children ; and Alcibiades the Athe-
nian is said to have been nursed by Amicla, a Spartan.
But if he was fortunate in a nurse, he was not so in a pre-
ceptor: for Zopyrus, appointed to that office by Pericles,
was, as Plato tells us, no better qualified than a common
slave. The Spartan children were not in that manner, under
tutors purchased or hired with money, nor were the parents
at liberty to educate them as they pleased : but as soon as
they were seven years old, Lycurgus ordered them to be en-
rolled in companies, where they were all kept under the
order and discipline, and had their exercises and

?

LIFE OF L YCL7RGUS. 3t

recreations in common. He who showed the most conduct
and courage amongst them, was made captain of the
company. The rest kept their eyes upon him, obeyed his
orders, and bore with patience the punishment he inflicted :
so that their whole education was an exercise of obedience.
The old men were present at their diversions, and often
suggested some occasion of dispute or quarrel, that they
might observe with exactness the spirit of each, and their
firmness in battle.

TAs for learning, they had just what was absolutely ne-
cessary. All the rest of their education was calculated to
make them subject to command, to endure labour, to fight
and conquer. They added, therefore, to their discipline,
as they advance in age ; cutting their hair very closs, making
them go barefoot, and play, for the most part, quite naked.
At twelve years of age, their under garment was taken away,
and but one upper one a year allowed them. Hence they
were necessarily dirty in their persons, and not indulged the
great favour of baths, and oils, except on some particular
days of the year. They slept in companies, on beds made
the tops of reeds, which they gathered with their own
hands, without knives, and brought from the banks of the
Eurotas. In winter they were permitted to add a little
istle-down, as that seemed to have some warmth in it. • -
At this age, the most distinguished amongst them became
the favourite companions of the elder; and the old men
attended more constantly their places of exercise, observing
their trials of strength and wit, not slightly and in a cursory
manner, but as their fathers, guardians, and governors : so that
there was neither time nor place where persons were want-
ing to instruct and chastise them. One of the best and ablest
men of the city was, moreover, appointed inspector of the
youth : and he gave the command of each company to the
discreetest and most spirited of those called Irens. An Iren
was one that had been two years out of the class of boys ;

32 LIFE OF LYCURGUS.

a Melliren one of the oldest lads. This Iren, then, a youth
twenty years old, gives orders to those under his command
in their little battles, and has them to serve him at his house.
He sends the oldest of them to fetch wood, and the younger
to gather pot-herbs : these they steal where they can find
.them, either slily getting into gardens, or else craftily and
warily creeping to the common tables. But if any one be
caught, he is severely flogged for negligence or want of
dexterity. They steal, too, whatever victuals they possibly
can, ingeniously contriving to do it when persons are asleep,
or keep but indifferent watch. If they are discovered, thej
are punished not only with whipping, but with hunger.
Indeed, their supper is but slender at all times, that, to fence
against want, they may be forced to exercise their courage
and address. This is the first intention of their spare .diet •.
a subordinate one is, to make them grow tall. For when
the animal spirits are not too much oppressed by a great
quantity of food, which stretches itself out in breadth and
thickness, they mount upwards by their natural lightness,
and the body easily and freely shoots up in height. This
also contributes to make them handsome ; for thin and
slender habits yield more freely to nature, which then gives
a fine proportion to the limbs ; whilst the heavy and gross
resist her by their weightj So women that take physic dur-
ing their pregnancy, have slighter children indeed, but of a
finer and more delicate, turn, because the suppleness of the
matter more readily obeys the plastic power. However,
these are speculations which we shall leave to others.

The boys steal with so much caution, that one of them
having conveyed a young fox under his garment, suffered the
creature to tear out his bowels with his teeth and claws,
choosing rather to die than to be detected. Nor does this
appear incredible, if we consider what their young men can
endure to this day ; for we have seen many of them expire
under the lash at the altar of Diana Orthia,

LIFE OF LYCURGUS. 33

pThe Iren, reposing nimself after supper, used to order one
of the boys to sing a song ; to another he put some question
which required a judicious answer : for example, " Who was
the best man in the city ? " or u What he thought of such an
action ? " This accustomed them from their childhood to
judge of the virtues, to enter into the affairs of their country-
men. For if one of them was asked, "Who is a good citizen,
or who an infamous one," and hesitated in his answer, he was
considered a boy of slow parts, and of a soul that would not
aspire to honour. The answer was likewise to have a reason
assigned for it, and proof conceived in few words. He
whose account of the matter was wrong, by way of punish-
ment had his thumb bit by the Iren. The old men and
magistrates often attended these little trials, to see whether
the Iren exercised his authority in a rational and proper
manner. He was permitted, indeed, to inflict the penalties;
but when the boys were gone, he was to be chastised him-
self, if he had punished them either witrrtoo much severity
or remissness^

The adopters of favourites also shared both in the honour
and disgrace of their boys : and one of them is said to have
been mulcted by the magistrates, because the boy whom he
had taken into his affections let some ungenerous word or
cry escape him as he was fighting. This love was so honour-
able and in so much esteem, that the virgins too had their
lovers amongst the most virtuous matrons. A competition
of affection caused no misunderstanding, but rather a mutual
friendship between those that had fixed their regards upon
the same youth, and an united endeavour to make him as
accomplished as possible.

~ The boys were also taught to use sharp repartee, seasoned
with humour, and whatever they said was to be concise and
pithy. For Lycurgus, as we have observed, fixed but a small
value on a considerable quantity of his iron money ; but, on
the contrary, the worth of speech was to consist in its being

B

34 LIFE OF LYCURGUS.

comprised in a few plain words, pregnant with a great deal
of sense : and he contrived that by long silence they might
learn to be sententious and acute in their replies. As
debauchery often causes weakness and sterility in the body,
so the intemperance of the tongue makes conversation empty
and insipid. King Agis, therefore, when a certain Athenian
laughed at the Lacedaemonian short swords, and said, " The
jugglers would swallow them with ease upon the stage,"
answered in his laconic way, " And yet we can reach our
enemies' hearts with them." Indeed, to me there seems to
be something in this concise manner of speaking which
immediately reaches the object aimed at, and forcibly strikes
the mind of the hearer^/ Lycurgus himself was short and
sententious in his discourse, if we may judge by some of
his answers which are recorded ; tha.t, for instance, concern-
ing the constitution. When one advised him to establish a
popular government in Lacedsemon, "Go," said he, "and
first make a trial of it in thy own family." That again, con-
cerning sacrifices to the Deity, when he was asked why he
appointed them so trifling and of so little value, " That we
might never be in want," said he, " of something to offer
him." Once more, when they inquired of him, what sort of
martial exercises he allowed of, he answered, "All, except
those in which you stretch out your hands." Several such
like replies of his are said to be taken from the letters which
he wrote to his countrymen : as to their question, " How
shall we best guard against the invasion of an enemy ? " — " By
continuing poor, and not desiring in your possessions to be
one above another." And to the question, whether they
should enclose Sparta with walls, " That city is well fortified,
which has a wall of men instead of brick." Whether these
and some other letters ascribed to him are genuine or not,
is no easy matter to determine. However, that they hated
long speeches, the following apophthegms are a farther proof.

A. 1

th

ar<
T,

LIFE OF LYCURGUS. 35

King Leonidas said to one who discoursed at an improper
time about affairs of some concern, " My friend, you should
not talk so much to the purpose, of what it is not to the pur-
pose to talk of." Charilaus, the nephew of Lycurgus, being
asked why his uncle had made so few laws, answered, " To
men of few words, few laws are sufficient." Some people
rinding- fault with Hecatseus the sophist, because, when ad-
mitted to one of the public repasts, he said nothing all the
time, Archidamidas replied, " He that knows how to speak,
knows also when to speak."

The manner of their repartees, which, as I said, were
seasoned with humour, may be gathered from these instances.
When a troublesome fellow was pestering Demaratus with
impertinent questions, and this in particular several times
repeated, "Who is the best man in Sparta?" He answered,
" He that is least like you." To some who were com-
mending the Eleans for managing the Olympic games with
so much justice and propriety, Agis said, " What great
matter is it, if the Eleans do justice 'once in five years?"
When a stranger was professing his regard for Theopompus,
and saying that his own countrymen called him Philolacon
(a lover of the Lacedaemonians), the king answered him,
" My good friend, it were much better, if they called you
Philopolites" (a lover of your own countrymen). Plistonax,
:he son of Pausanias, replied to an orator of Athens, who

id the Lacedaemonians had no learning, " True, for we
are the only people of Greece that have learned no ill of you."
To one who asked what number of men there was in Sparta,
Archidamidas said, " Enough to keep bad men at a distance/'

Even when they indulged a vein of pleasantry, one might
perceive that they would not use one unnecessary word,
nor let an expression escape them that had not some sense
worth attending to. For one being asked to go and hear a
person who imitated the nightingale to perfection, answered,

5C LIFE OF LYCURGUS.

" I have heard the nightingale herself." Another said, upon
reading this epitaph,

Victims of Mars, at Selinus they fell,
Who quench'd the rage of tyranny —

" And they deserved to fall, for, instead of quenching it,
they should have let it burn out'' A young man answered
one that promised him some game-cocks that would stand
their death, " Give me those that will be the death of others."
Another seeing some people carried into the country in
litters, said, " May I never sit in any place where I cannot
rise before the aged ! " This was the manner of their
apophthegms : so that it has been justly enough observed
that the term lakonitein (to act the Lacedaemonian) is to be
referred rather to the exercises of the mind, than those of
the body.

Nor were poetry and music less cultivated among them,
than a concise dignity of expression. Their songs had a
spirit, which could rouse the soul, and impel it in an enthusi-
astic manner to action. The language was plain and manly,
the subject serious and moral. For they consisted chiefly
of the praises of heroes that had died for Sparta, or else ol
expressions of detestation for such wretches as had declined
the glorious opportunity, and rather chose to drag on life
in misery and contempt. Nor did they forget to express an
ambition for glory suitable to their respective ages. Of this
it may not be amiss to give an instance. There were three
choirs on their festivals, corresponding with the three ages
of man. The old men began,

Once in battle bold we shone ;
the young men answered,

Try us : our vigour is not gone;

and the boys concluded,

The palm remains for us alone.

LIFE OF LYCVRGVS. #

Indeed, if we consider with some attention such of the
Lacedaemonian poems as are still extant, and get into those
airs which were played upon the flute when they marched
to battle, we must agree that Terpander and Pindar have
very fitly joined valour and music together. The former
thus speaks of Lacedaemon,

There gleams the youth's bright falchion : there the muse
Lifts her sweet voice : there awful Justice opes
Her wide pavilion.

And Pindar sings,

There in grave council sits the sage ;
There burns the youth's resistless rage

To hurl the quiv'ring lance ;
The Muse with glory crowns their arms,
And Melody exerts her chartns,

And Pleasure leads

Thus we are informed, not only of their warlike turn, but
their skill in music. For as the Spartan poet says,

r

To swell the bold notes of the lyre,
Becomes the warrior's lofty fire.

nd the king always offered sacrifice to the muses before
battle, putting his troops in mind, I suppose, of their early
education and of the judgment that would be passed upon
them ; as well as that those divinities might teach them to
despite danger, while they performed some exploit fit for
them to celebrate.

On these occasions they relaxed the severity of their
discipline, permitting their men to be curious in dressing
their hair, and elegant in their arms and apparel, while they
expressed their alacrity, like horses full of fire and neighing
for the race. They let their hair, therefore, grow from their
youth, but took more particular care, when they expected
an action, to have it well combed and shining ; remembering
a saying of Lycurgus, that " a large head of hair made the

38 LIFE OF LYCURGIJS.

handsome more graceful, and the ugly more terrible." The
exercises, too,' of the young men, during the campaigns,
were more moderate, their diet not so hard, and their whole
treatment more indulgent: so that they were the only
people in the world with whom military discipline wore, in
time of war, a gentler face than usual. When the army was
drawn up, and the enemy near, the king sacrificed a goat,
and commanded them all to set garlands upon their heads,
and the musicians to play Castro's march, while himself
began the psean, which was the signal to advance. It was
at once a solemn and dreadful sight to see them measuring
their steps to the sound of music, and without the least
disorder in their ranks or tumult of spirits, moving forward
cheerfully and composedly, with harmony, to battle. Neither
fear nor rashness was likely to approve men so disposed,
possessed as they were of a firm presence of mind, with
courage and confidence of success, as undet the conduct of
heaven. When the king advanced against the enemy, he
had always with him some one that had been crowned in
the public games of Greece. And they tell us, that a
Lacedaemonian, when large sums were offered him on con-
dition that he would not enter the Olympic lists, refused
them, having with much difficulty thrown his antagonist, one
put this question to him, " Spartan, what will you get by this
victory?" He answered with a smile, "I shall have the
honour to fight foremost in the ranks before my prince."
When they had routed the enemy, they continued the
pursuit till they were assured of the victory : after that they
immediately desisted; deeming it neither generous nor
worthy of a Grecian to destroy those who made no farther
resistance. This was not only a proof of magnanimity, but
of great service to their cause. For when their adversaries
found that they killed such as stood it out, but spared the
fugitives, they concluded it was better to fly than to meet
their fate upon the spot

an

:

LIFE OF LYCURGUS. 39

Hippias the sophist tells us, that Lycurgus himself was a
man of great personal valour, and an experienced com-
mander. Philostephanus also ascribes to him the first
division of cavalry into troops of fifty, who were drawn up
in a square body. But Demetrius the Phalerean says, that
he never had any military employment, and that there was
the profoundest peace imaginable when he established the
constitution of Sparta. His providing for a cessation of
arms during the Olympic games is likewise a mark of the
humane and peaceable man. Some, however, acquaint us,
and among the rest Hermippus, that Lucurgus at first had
no communication with Iphitus ; but coming that way, and
happening to be a spectator, he heard behind him a human
voice (as he thought) which expressed some wonder and
displeasure that he did not put his countrymen upon re-
sorting to so great an assembly. He turned round im-
mediately, to discover whence the voice came, and as there
was no man to be seen, concluded it was from heaven. He
joined Iphitus, therefore ; and ordering, along with him,
the ceremonies of the festival, rendered it more magnificent
and lasting.

The discipline of the Lacedaemonians continued after
ey were arrived at years of maturity. For no man was at
berty to live as he pleased ; the city being like one great
camp, where all had their stated allowance, and knew their
public charge, each man concluding that he was born, not
"or himself, but for his country. Hence, if they had no
particular orders, they employed themselves in inspecting
the boys, and teaching them something useful, or in learning
of those that were older than themselves. One of the
greatest privileges that Lycurgus procured his countrymen,
was the enjoyment of leisure, the consequence of his for-
bidding them to exercise any mechanic trade. It was not
worth their while to take great pains to raise a fortune,
since riches there were of no account : and the Helotes,

40 LIFE OF LYCURGUS.

who tilled the ground, were answerable for the produce
above-mentioned. To this purpose we have a story of a
Lacedaemonian, who, happening to be at Athens while the
court sat, was informed of a man who was fined for idle-
ness ; and when the poor fellow was returning home in
great dejection, attended by his condoling friends, he
desired the company to show him the person that was con-
demned for keeping up his dignity. So much beneath them
they reckoned all attention to mechanics arts, and all desire
of riches !

Lawsuits were banished from Lacedsemon with money.
The Spartans knew neither riches nor poverty, but pos-
sessed an equal competency, and had a cheap and easy
way of supplying their few wants. Hence, when they were
not engaged in war, their time was taken up with dancing,
feasting, hunting, or meeting to exercise, or converse. They
went not to market under thirty years of age, all their
necessary concerns being managed by their relations and
adopters. Nor was it reckoned a credit to the old to be
seen sauntering in the market-place ; it was deemed more
suitable for them to pass great part of the day in the schools
of exercise, or places of conversation. Their discourse
seldom turned upon money, or business, or trade, but upon
the praise of the excellent, or the contempt of the worthless ;
and the last was expressed with that pleasantry and humour,
which conveyed instruction and correction without seeming
to intend it. Nor was Lycurgus himself immoderately
severe in his manner ; but, as Sosibius tells us, he dedicated
a little statue to the god of laughter in each hall. He con-
sidered facetiousness as a seasoning of their hard exercise
and diet, and therefore ordered it to take place on all
proper occasions, in their common entertainments and
parties of pleasure.

Upon the whole, he taught his citizens to think nothing
more disagreeable than to live by (or for) themselves. Like

of LYCURGVS. 4t

bees, they acted with one impulse for the public good, and
always assembled about their prince. They were possessed
with a thirst of honour, an enthusiasm bordering upon
insanity, and had not a wish but for their country. These
sentiments are confirmed by some of their aphorisms.
When Psedaretus lost his election for one of the "three
hundred," he went away "rejoicing that there were three
hundred better men than himself found in the city." Pisis-
tratidas going with some others, ambassador to the king • of
Persia's lieutenants, was asked whether they came with a
public commission, or on their own account, to which he
answered, " If successful, for the public ; if unsuccessful, for
ourselves." Agrileonis, the mother of Brasidas, asking some
Amphipolitans that waited upon her at her house, whether
Brasidas died honourably and as became a Spartan ? they
greatly extolled his merit,1 and said there was not such a
man left in Sparta ; whereupon she replied, " Say not so,
my friends ; for Brasidas was indeed a man of honour, but
Lacedaemon can boast of many better men than he."

The senate, as I said before, consisted at first of those
that were assistants to Lycurgus in his great enterprise.
Afterwards, to fill up any vacancy that might happen, he
ordered the most worthy men to be selected, of those that
were full threescore years old. This was the most respectable
dispute in the world, and the contest was truly glorious ;
for it was not who should be swiftest among the swift, or
strongest of the strong, but who was the wisest and best
among the good and wise. He who had the preference was
to bear this mark of superior excellence through life, this
great authority, which put into his hands the lives and
honour of the citizens, and every other important affair.
The manner of the election was this : when the people
were assembled, some persons appointed for the purpose
were shut up in a room near the place ; where they could
neither see nor be seen, and only hear the shouts of the

4& LIFE OF LYCURGVS.

constituents : for by them they decided this and most other
affairs. Each candidate walked silently through the assem-
bly, one after another according to lot. Those that were
shut up had writing tables, in which they set down in
different columns the number and loudness of the shouts,
without knowing who they were for ; only they marked
them as first, second, third, and so on, according to the
number of the competitors. He that had the most and
loudest acclamations, was declared duly elected^, Then he
was crowned with a garland, and went round to give thanks
to the gods : a number of young men followed, striving
which should extol him most, and the women celebrated
his virtues in their songs, and blessed his worthy life and
conduct. Each of his relations offered him a repast,
and their address on the occasion was, " Sparta honours
you with this collation." When he had finished the pro-
cession, he went to the common table, and lived as before.
Only two portions were set before him, one of which he
carried away : and as all the women related to him attended
at the gates of the public hall, he called her for whom
he had the greatest esteem, and presented her with the
portion, saying at the same time, " That which I received
as a mark of honour, I give to you." Then she was con-
ducted home with great applause by the rest of the women.
Lycurgus likewise made good regulations with respect
to burials. In the first place, to take away all superstition,
he ordered the dead to be buried in the city, and even
permitted their monuments to be erected near the temples ;
accustoming the youth to such sights from their infancy,
that they might have no uneasiness from them, nor any
horror for death, as if people were polluted with the touch
of a dead body, or with treading upon a grave. In the
next place, he suffered nothing to be buried with the corpse,
except the red cloth and the olive leaves in which it was
wrapped. Nor would he suffer the relations to inscribe any

LlfE OF LYCURGUS. 43

names upon the tombs, except of those men that fell in
battle, or those women who died in some sacred office.
He fixed eleven days for the time of mourning : on the
twelfth they were to put an end to it, after offering sacrifice
to Ceres. No part of life was left vacant and unimproved,
but even with their necessary actions he interwove the
praise of virtue and the contempt of vice : and he so filled
the city with living examples, that it was next to impossible,
for persono who had these from their infancy before their
eyes, not to be drawn and formed to honour.

For the same reason he would not permit all that
desired to go abroad and see other countries, lest they
should contract foreign manners, gain traces of a life of
little discipline, and of a different form of government. He
forbid strangers too to resort to Sparta, who could not
assign a good reason for their coming ; not, as Thucydides
says, out of fear they should imitate the constitution of that
city, and make improvements in virtue, but lest they should
teach his own people some evil. For along with foreigners
come new subjects of discourse ; new discourse produces new
opinions ; and from these there necessarily spring new
passions and desires, which, like discords in music, would
disturb the established government. He, therefore, thought
it more expedient for the city to keep out of it corrupt
customs and manners, than even to prevent the introduction
of a pestilence.

Thus far, then, we can perceive no vestiges of a disregard
to right and wrong, which is the fault some people find with
the laws of Lycurgus, allowing them well enough calculated
to produce valour, but not to promote justice. Perhaps it
was the Cryptia, as they called it, or ambuscade, if that was
really one of this lawgiver's institutions, as Aristotle says it
was, which gave Plato so bad an impression both of Lycur-
gus and his laws. The governors of the youth ordered the
shrewdest of them from time to time to disperse themselves

44 MFE OP LYCURGVS.

in the country, provided only with daggers and some
necessary provisions. In the daytime they hid themselves,
and rested in the most private places they could find, but
at night they sallied out into the roads, and killed all the
Helotes they could meet with. Nay, sometimes by day,
they fell upon them in the fields, and murdered the ablest
and strongest of them. Thucydides relates in his history of
the Peloponnesian war, that the Spartans selected such of
them as were distinguished for their courage, to the number
of two thousand or more, declared them free, crowned them
with garlands, and conducted them to the temples of the
gods ; but soon after they all disappeared ; and no on.~
could, either then or since, give account in what manner they
were destroyed. Aristotle particularly says, that the Ephori,
as soon as they were invested in their office, declared war
against the Helotes, that they might be massacred under
pretence of law. In other respects they treated them with
great inhumanity : sometimes they made them drink till
they were intoxicated, and in that condition led them into
the public halls, to show the young men what drunkenness
was. They ordered them too to sing mean songs, and to
dance ridiculous dances, but not to meddle with any that
were genteel and graceful. Thus they tell us, that when
the Thebans afterwards invaded Laconia, and took a great
number of the Helotes prisoners, they ordered them to sing
the odes of Terpander, Aleman, or Spendon the Lacedae-
monian, but they excused themselves, alleging that it was
forbidden by their masters. Those who say that a free-
man in Sparta was most a freeman, and a slave most
a slave, seem well to have considered the difference of
states. But in my opinion, it was in aftertimes that these
cruelties took place among the Lacedaemonians, chiefly
after the great earthquake, when, as history informs us, the
Helotes, joining the Messenians, attacked them, did infinite
damage to the country, and brought the city to the greatest

L1PE OF LYCURGUS. 45

extremity. I can never ascribe to Lycurgus so abominable
an act as that of the ambuscade. I would judge in this case
by the mildness and justice which appeared in the rest of
his conduct, to which also the gods gave their sanction.

When his principal institutions had taken root in the
manners of the people, and the government was come to
such maturity as to be able to support and preserve itself,
then, as Plato says of the Deity, that he rejoiced when he
had created the world, and given it its first motion ; so
Lycurgus was charmed with the beauty and greatness of his
political establishment, when he saw it exemplified in fact,
and move on in due order. He was next desirous to make
it immortal, so far as human wisdom could effect it, and to
deliver it down unchanged to the latest times. For this
purpose he assembled ajl the people, and told them the
provisions he had already made for the state were indeed
sufficient for virtue and happiness, but the greatest and
most important matter was still behind, which he could not
disclose to them till he had consulted the oracle ; that they
must therefore inviolably observe his laws, without altering
anything in them, till he returned from Delphi ; and then
he would acquaint them with the pleasure of Apollo. When
they had all promised to do so, and desired him to set
forward, he took an oath of the kings and senators, and
afterwards of all the citizens, that they would abide by the
present establishment till Lycurgus came back. He then
took his journey to Delphi.

When he arrived there, he offered sacrifice to the gods,
and consulted the oracle, whether his laws were sufficient to
promote virtue, and secure the happiness of the state.
Apollo answered, that the laws were excellent, and that the
city which kept to the constitution he had established,
would be the most glorious in the world. This oracle
Lycurgus took down in writing, and sent it to Sparta. He
then offered another sacrifice, and embraced his friends and

46 LIFE OF LYCURGUS.

his son, determined never to release his citizens from their
oath, but voluntarily there to put a period to his life ; while
he was yet of an age when life was not a burden, when
death was not desirable, and while he was not unhappy in
any one circumstance. He, therefore,, destroyed himself by
abstaining from food, persuaded that the very death of
lawgivers should have its use, and their exit, so far from
being insignificant, have its share of virtue, and be con-
sidered as a great action. To him, indeed, whose perform-
ances were so illustrious, the conclusion of life was the
crown of happiness, and his death was left guardian of those
invaluable blessings he had procured his countrymen
through life, as they had taken an oath not to depart from
his establishment till his return. Nor was he deceived in
his expectations. Sparta continued superior to the rest of
Greece, both in its government at home and reputation
.abroad, so long as it retained the institution of Lycurgus :
and this it did during the space of five hundred years, and
the reign of fourteen successive kings, down to Agis the
son of Archidamus As for the appointment of the Ephori,
it was so far from weakening the constitution, that it gave
it additional vigour, and though it seemed to be estab-
lished in favour of the people, it strengthened the aris-
tocracy.

But in the reign of Agis money found its way into Sparta,
and with money came its inseparable attendant — avarice.
This was by means of Lysander ; who, though himself in-
capable of being corrupted by money, filled his country with
the love of it, and with luxury too. He brought both gold
and silver from the wars, and thereby broke through the
laws of Lycurgus. While these were in force, Sparta was
not so much under the political regulations of a common-
wealth, as the strict rules of a philosophic life ; and as the
poets feign of Hercules, that only with a club and lion's skin
he travelled over the woild, clearing it of lawless ruffians and

LIFE OF LYCURGUS. 47

cruel tyrants ; so the Lacedaemonians with a piece of parch-
ment and coarse coat kept Greece in a voluntary obedience,
destroyed usurpation and tyranny in the states, put an end to
wars, and laid seditions asleep, very often without either shield
or lance, and only by sending one ambassador ; to whose
directions all parties concerned immediately submitted. Thus
bees, when their prince appears, compose their quarrels and
unite in one^ swarm. So much did justice and good govern-
ment prevail in that state, that I am surprised at those who
say the Lacedaemonians knew indeed how to obey, but not
how to govern : and on this occasion quote the saying of
king Theopompus, who, when one told him that Sparta was
preserved by the good administration of its kings, replied,
" Nay, rather by the obedience of their subjects." It is
certain that people will not continue pliant to those who
know not how to command ; but it is the part of a good
governor to teach obedience. He who knows how to lead
well, is sure to be well followed : and as it is by the art of
horsemanship that a horse is made gentle and tractable, so it
is by the abilities of him that fills the throne that the people
become ductile and submissive. Such was the conduct of
the Lacedaemonians, that people did not only endure, but
*ven desired to bs their subjects. They asked not of them
either ships, money or troops, but only a Spartan general.
When they had received him, they treated him with the
greatest honour and respect ; so Gylippus was revered by
the Sicilians, Brasidas by the Chalcidians, Lysander, Calli-
cratidas, and Agesilaus by all the people of Asia. These,
and such as these, wherever they came, were called mo-
derators and reformers, both of the magistrates and people,
and Sparta itself was considered as a school of discipline,
where the beauty of life and political order were taught in
the utmost perfection.. Hence Stratonicus seems facetiously
enough to have said, that he would order " the Athenians to
have the conduct of mysteries and processions ; the Eleans

48 LIFE OF LYCURGUS.

to preside in games, as their particular province ; and the
Lacedaemonians to be beaten, if the other did amiss." This
was spoken in jest : but Antisthenes, one of the scholars of
Socrates, said (more seriously) of the Thebans, when he saw
them pluming themselves upon their success at Leuctra,
" They were just like so many school-boys rejoicing that they
had beaten their master."

It was not, however, the principal design of Lycurgus
that his city should govern many others, but he considered
its happiness like that of a private man, as flowing from
virtue and self-consistency : he therefore so ordered and dis-
posed it, that by the freedom and sobriety of its inhabitants^
and their having a sufficiency within themselves, its con-
tinuance might be the more secure. Plato, Diogenes, Zeno,
and other writers upon governmentv have taken Lycurgus
for their model : and these have attained great praise, though
they left only an idea of something excellent. Yet he who,
not in idea and in words, but in fact produced a most ini-
mitable form of government, and by showing a whole city of
philosophers, confounded those who imagine that the so
much talked of strictness of a philosophic life is impracti-
cable ; he, I say, stands in the rank of glory far beyond the
founders of all the other Grecian states. Therefore Aristotle
is of opinion, that the honours paid him in Lacedsemon were
far beneath his merit. Yet those honours were very great ;
for he has a temple there, and they offer him a yearly sacri-
fice, as a god. It is also said, that when his remains were
brought home, his tomb was struck with lightning : a seal
of divinity which no other man, however eminent, has had,
except Euripides, who died and was buried at Arethusa in
Macedonia. This was matter of great satisfaction and
triumph to the friends of Euripides, that the same thing
should befall him after death, which had formerly happened
to the most venerable of men, and the most favoured of
heaven. Some say, Lycurgus died at Cirrha; but Apollo-

LIFE OF LYCURGUS. 49

themis will have it, that he was brought to Elis and died
there ; and Timseus and Aristoxenus write, that he ended
his days in Crete ; nay, Aristoxenus adds, that the Cretans
show his tomb at Pergamia, near the high road. We are
told, he left an only son named Antiorus : and as he died
without issue, the family was extinct. His friends and
relations observed his anniversary, which subsisted for many
ages, and the days on which they met for that purpose they
called Lycurgidae. Aristocrates, the son of Hipparchus,
relates, that the friends of Lycurgus, with whom he sojourned,
and at last died in Crete, burned his body, and, at his request,
threw his ashes into the sea. Thus he guarded against the
possibility of his remains being brought back to Sparta by
the Lacedaemonians, lest they should then think themselves
released from their nath, on the pretence that he was returned,
and make innovations in the government. This is what we
had to say of Lycurgus.

SIR THOMAS MORE'S
UTOPIA.

UTOPIA.

BOOK I.

HENRY THE EIGHTH, the unconquered King of England, a
prince adorned with all the virtues that become a great
monarch; having some differences of no small consequence
with Charles the most serene prince of Castile, sent me into
Flanders, as his ambassador, for treating and composing
matters between them. I was colleague and companion
to that incomparable man Cuthbert Tonstal, whom the
king with such universal applause lately made Master of the
Rolls ; but of whom I will say nothing ; not because I fear
that the testimony of a friend will be suspected, but rather
because his learning and virtues are too great for me to do
them justice, and so well known, that they need not my
commendations unless I would, according to the proverb,
"Show the sun with a lanthorn." Those that were ap-
pointed by the prince to treat with us met us at Bruges,
according to agreement ; they were all worthy men. The
Margrave of Bruges was their head, and the chief man
imong them ; but he that was esteemed the wisest, and that
spoke for the rest, was George Temse, the Provost of
Casselsee ; both art and nature had concurred to make him
eloquent : he was very learned in the law ; and as he had a
great capacity, so by a long practice in affairs he was vem

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V.fi

" 1 did not guess amiss, for at first sight I took him for a
seaman." " Bui you are much mistaken." said he, " for he has
not sailed as a seaman, but as a traveller, or rather a philo-
sopher. This Raphael, who from his family carries the name
of Hvihloday, is not ignorant of the Latin tongue, but is
eminently learned in the Greek, having applied himself more
particularly to that than to the former, because he had given
himself much to philosophy, in which he knew that the
Romans have left us nothing that is valuable, except what is
to be found in Seneca and Cicero. He is a Portuguese by
birth, and was so desirous of seeing the world, that he
divided his estate among his brothers, run the same hazard
as Americus Vesputius, and bore a share in three of his four
voyages, that are now published ; only he did not return with
him in his last, but obtained leave of him almost by force,
that he might be one of those twenty-four who were left at
the farthest place at which they touched, in their last
voyage to Xew Castile. The leaving him thus did not a
little gratify one that was more fond of travelling than of
returning home, to be buried in his own country ; for he
used often to say, that the way to heaven was the same
from all places ; and he that had no grave, had the heaven
still over him. Yet this disposition of mind had cost him
dear, if God had not been very gracious to him ; for after
he, with five Castilians, had travelled over many countries,
at last, by strange good fortune, he got to Ceylon, and from
thence to Calicut, where he very happily found some
Portuguese ships ; and, beyond all men's expectations,
returned to his native country." When Peter had said this
to me, I thanked him for his kindness, in intending t ;
me the acquaintance of a man whose conversation he knew
would be so acceptable ; and upon that Raphael and I em-
braced each other. es were past which
are usual with strangers upon their first meeting, w^ all went
to my house, and entering into the garden, sat down wi a

5$ VTOPIA.

green bank, and entertained one another in discourse. He
fold us, that when Vesputius had sailed away, he and his
companions that stayed behind in New Castile, by degrees
ipsinuated themselves into the affections of the people of
the country, meeting often with them, and treating them
gently : and at last they not only lived among them without
danger, but conversed familiarly with them ; and got so far
into the heart of a prince, whose name and country I have
forgot, that he both furnished them plentifully with all things
necessary, and also with the conveniences of travelling ;
both boats when they went by water, and waggons when
they travelled over land : he sent with them a very faithful
guide, who was to introduce and recommend them to such
other princes as they had a mind to see : and after many
days' journey, they came to towns, and cities, and to com-
monwealths, that were both happily governed and well
peopled. Under the equator, and as far on both sides of
it as the sun mores, there lay vast deserts that were parched
with the perpetual heat of the sun ; the soil was withered, alL
things looked dismally, and all places were either quite un-
inhabited, or abounded with wild beasts and serpents, and
some few men, that were neither less wild nor less cruel
than the beasts themselves. But as they went farther, a
new scene opened, all things grew milder, the air less burn-
ing, the soil more verdant, and even the beasts were less
wild : and at last there were nations, towns, and cities, that
had not only mutual commerce among themselves, and with
their neighbours, but traded both by sea and land, to very
remote countries. There they found the conveniences of
seeing many countries on all hands, for no ship went any
voyage into which he and his companions were not very
welcome. The first vessels that they saw were Hal-bottomed,
their sails were made of reeds and wicker woven close
together, only some were of leather ; but afterwards they
found ships made with round keels, and canvas sails, and in

'UTOPIA. 57

all respects like our ships ; and the seamen understood both
astronomy and navigation. He got wonderfully into their
favour, by showing them the use of the needle, of which till
then they were utterly ignorant. They sailed before with
great caution, and only in summer-time, but now they count
all seasons alike, trusting wholly to the loadstone, in which
they are perhaps more secure than safe ; so that there is
reason to fear that this discovery, which was thought would
prove so much to their advantage, may by their imprudence
become an occasion of much mischief to them. But it were
too long to dwell on all that he told us he had observed in
every place ; it would be too great a digression from our
present purpose : whatever is necessary to be told, concern-
ing those wise and prudent institutions which he observed
among civilized nations, may perhaps be related by us on a
more proper occasion. We asked him many questions
concerning all these things, to which he answered very
willingly ; only we made no inquiries after monsters, than
which nothing is more common ; for everywhere one may
hear of ravenous dogs and wolves, and cruel men-eaters >
but it is not so easy to find states that are well and wisely
governed.

As he told us of many things that were amiss in those
new-discovered countries, so he reckoned up not a few
things from which patterns might be taken for correcting
the errors of these notions among whom we live ; of which
an account may be given, as I have already promised, at
some other time ; for at present I intend only to relate those
particulars that he told us of the manners and laws of the
Utopians : but I will begin with the occasion that led us to
speak of that commonwealth. After Raphael had dis-
coursed with great judgment on the many errors that were
both among us and these nations ; had treated of the wise
institutions both here and there, and had spoken as distinctly
of the customs and government of every, nation through

5§ UTOPIA.

which he had passed, as if he had spent his whole life in it ;
Peter being struck with admiration, said, "I wonder, Raphael,
how it comes that you enter into no king's service, for I am
sure there are none to whom you would not be very acceptable :
for your learning and knowledge, both of men and things, is
such, that you would not only entertain them very pleasantly,
but be of great use to them, by the examples you could set
before them, and the advices you could give them ; and by
this means you would both serve your own interest, and be of
great use to all your friends." — "As for my friends," answered
he, "I need not be much concerned, having already done for
them all that was incumbent on me ; for when I was not
only in good health, but fresh and young, I distributed that
among my kindred and friends which other people do not
part with till they are old and sick ; when they then unwill-
ingly give that which they can enjoy no longei themselves.
I think my friends ought to rest contented with this, and
not to expect that for their sakes I should enslave myself to
any king whatsoever." — "Soft and fair/' said Peter, "I do not
mean that you should be a slave to any king, but only that
you should assist them, and be useful to them." — " The change
of the word," said he, " does not alter the matter." — " But term
it as you will," replied Peter, "I do not see any other way in
which you can be so useful, both in private to your friends,
and to the public, and by which you can make your own
condition happier." — "Happier!" answered Raphael, "is that
to be compassed in a way so abhorrent to my genius ? Now
I live as I will, to which I believe few courtiers can pretend.
And there are so many that court the favour of great men,
that there will be no great loss if they are not troubled either
with me or with others of jny temper." Upon this, said I, "I
perceive, Raphael, that you neither desire wealth nor great*
ness ; and indeed I value and admire such a man much
more than I do any of the great men in the world. Yet I
think you would do what would well become so generous

UTOPIA. 59

and philosophical a soul as yours is, if you would apply your
time and thoughts to public affairs, even though you may
happen to find it a little uneasy to yourself: and this you
can never do with so much advantage, as by being taken
into the counsel of -some great prince, and putting him on
noble and worthy actions, which I know you would do if
you were in such a post ; for the springs both of good and ^
evil flow from the prince, over a whole nation, as from a j
lasting fountain. So much learning as you have, even with-
out practice in affairs, or so great a practice as you have
had, without any other learning, would render you a very fit
counsellor to any king whatsoever." — " You are doubly mis-
taken," said he, "Mr. More, both in your opinion of me, and
in thw» judgment you make of things : for as I have not that
capacity that you fancy I have ; so; if I had it, the public
would not be one jot the better, when I had sacrificed my
quiet to it. For most princes apply themselves more to
affairs of war than to the useful arts of peace ; and in these
I neither have any knowledge, nor do I much desire it :
they are generally more set on acquiring new kingdoms, right!
or wrong, than on governing well those they possess. And
among the^ ministers of princes, there are none that are not ?
so wise as to need no assistance, or at least that do not think \
themselves so wise, that they imagine they need none ; and
if they court any, it is only those for whom the ^prince has
much personal favour, whom by their fawnings and flatteries
they endeavour to fix to their own interests : and indeed
Nature has so made us, that we all love to be flattered, and
to please ourselves with our own notions. The old crow J
loves his young, and the ape her cubs. Now if in such a '
Court, made up of persons who envy all others, and only
admire themselves, a person should but propose anything
that he had either read in history, or. observed in his travels,
the rest would think that the reputation of their wisdom
would sink, and that their interest would be, much depressed.

60 UTOPIA.

if they could not run it down : and if all other things failed,
then they would fly to this, that such or such things pleased
our ancestors, and it were well for us if we could but match
them. They would set up their rest on such an answer, as
a sufficient confutation of all that could be said ; as if it
were a great misfortune, that any should be found wiser than
his ancestors ; but though they willingly let go all the good
things that were among those of former ages, yet if better
things are proposed they cover themselves obstinately with
this excuse of reverence to past times. I have met with
these proud, morose, and absurd judgments of things in
many places, particularly once in England." — "Was you ever
there?" said I. — "Yes, I was," answered he, "and stayed
some months there, not long after the rebellion in the west
was suppressed with a great slaughter of the poor people that
were engaged in it.

" I was then much obliged to that reverend prelate, John
Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal, and Chancellor
of England : a man," said he, " Peter (for Mr. More knows
well what he was), that was not less venerable for his wisdom
and virtues, than for the high character he bore. He was of
a middle stature, not broken with age; his looks begot reve-
rence rather than fear ; his conversation was easy, but serious
and grave ; he sometimes took pleasure to try the force of
those that came as suitors to him upon business, by speaking
sharply, though decently to them, and by that he discovered
their spirit and presence of mind, with which he was much
delighted, when it did not grow up to impudence, as bearing
a great resemblance to his own temper; and he looked on
such persons as the fittest men for affairs. He spoke both
gracefully and weightily ; he was eminently skilled in the
law, had a vast understanding, and a prodigious memory ;
and those excellent talents with which Nature had furnished
him, were improved by study and experience. When I was
in England the king depended much on his counsels, and

UTOPIA. 6 1

ihe government seemed to be chiefly supported by him ; for
from his youth he had been all along practised in affairs ; and
having passed through many traverses of fortune, he had
with great cost acquired a vast stock of wisdom, which is
not soon lost when it is purchased so dear. One day when
I was dining with him there happened to be at table one of
the English lawyers, who took occasion to run out in a high
commendation of the severe execution of justice upon
thieves, who, as he said, were then hanged so fast, that there
were sometimes twenty on one gibbet ; and upon that he
said he could not wonder enough how it came to pass, that
since so few escaped, there were yet so many thieves left who
were still robbing in all places. Upon this, I who took the
boldness to speak freely before the Cardinal, said, there was
no reason to wonder at the matter, since this way of punish-
ing thieves was neither just in itself nor good for the public ;
for as the severity was too great, so the remedy was not effec:
tual; simple theft not being so great a crime that it ought U
cost a man his life, no punishment how severe soever being
able to restrain those from robbing who can find out no
other way of livelihood. ' In this,' said I, ' not only you in
England, but a. great part of the world imitate some ill
masters that are readier to chastise their scholars than to
teach them. There are dreadful punishments enacted against
thieves, but it were much better to make such good provi-
sions by which every man might be put in a method how to
live, and so be preserved from the fatal necessity of stealing
and of dying for it.' — ' There has been care enough taken for
that,' said he, ' there are many handicrafts, and there is hus-
bandry, by which they may make a shift to live unless they
have a greater mind to folio will courses.' — * That will not serve
your turn/ said I, 'for many lose their limbs in civil or foreign
wars, as lately in the Cornish rebellion, and some time ago
in your wars with France, who being thus mutilated in the
Service of their king and country, can no more follow their

62 UTOPIA.

\ old trades, and are too old to learn new ones : but since
( wars are only accidental things, and haye intervals, let us
consider those things that fall out every day. There is a
great number of noblemen among you, that are themselves
as idle as drones, that subsist on other men's labour, on the
labour of their tenants, whom, to raise their revenues, they
pare to the quick. This indeed is the only instance of their
frugality, for in all other things they are prodigal, even to
the beggaring of themselves : but besides this, they carry
about with them a great number of idle fellows, who never
learned any art by which they may gain their living ; and
these, as soon as either their lord dies, or they themselves
fall sick, are turned out of doors ; for your lords are readier
to feed idle people, than to take care of the sick ; and often
the heir is not able to keep together so great a family as his
predecessor did. Now when the stomachs of those that are
thus turned out of doors, grow keen, they rob no less keenly;
and what else can they do ? for when, by wandering about,
they have worn out both their health and their clothes, and
are tattered, and look ghastly, men of quality will not en-
tertain them, and poor men dare not do it ; knowing that
one who has been bred up in idleness and pleasure, and who
was used to walk about with his sword and buckler, despising
all the neighbourhood with an insolent scorn, as far below
him, is not fit for the spade and mattock : nor will he serve
a poor man for so small a hire, and in so low a diet as he can
afford to give him.' To this he answered, l This sort of men
ought to be particularly cherished, for in them consists the
force of the armies for which we have occasion ; since their
birth inspires them with a nobler sense of honour, than is to
be found among tradesmen or ploughmen.' — * You may as well
say,' replied I, ' that you must cherish thieves on the account
of wars, for you will never want the one^ as long as you have
the other ; and as robbers prove sometimes gallant soldiers,
so soldiers often prove brave robbers ; so near an alliance

UTOPIA. 63

there is between those two sorts of life. But this bad
custom, so common among you, of keeping many servants,
is not peculiar to this nation. ' In France there is yet a
more pestiferous sort of people, for the whole country is full
of soldiers, still kept up in time of peace ; if such a state
of a nation can be called a peace : and these are kept in pay
upon the same account that you plead for those idle retainers
about noblemen ; this being a maxim of those pretended
statesmen that it is necessary for the public safety, to have a
good body of veteran soldiers ever in readiness. They
think raw men are not to be depended on, and they some-
times seek occasions for making war,, that they may train up
their soldiers in the art of cutting throats; or as Sallust
observed, for keeping their hands in use, that they may not
grow dull by too long an intermission. But France has
learned to its cost, how dangerous it is to feed such beasts.
The fate of the Romans, Carthaginians, and Syrians, and
many other nations and cities, which were both overturned
and quite ruined by those standing armies, should make
others wiser : and the folly of this maxim of the French,
appears plainly even from this, that their trained soldiers
often find your raw men prove too hard for them ; of which
I will not say much, lest you may think I flatter the English.
Every day's experience shows, that the mechanics in the
towns, or the clowns in the country, are not afraid of
fighting with those idle gentlemen, if they are not dis-
abled by some misfortune in their body, or dispirited by ex-
treme want, so that you need not fear that those well-
shaped and strong men (for it is only such that noblemen
e to keep about them, till they spoil them) who now
feeble with ease, and are softened with their effeminate
manner of life, would be less fit for action if they were well
bred and well employed. And it seems very unreasonable,
that for the prospect of a war, which you need never have
but when you please, you should maintain so many idle,

sna
,ov,
gro

64 UTOPIA.

men, as will always disturb you in time of peace, which is
ever to be more considered than war. But I do not think
that this necessity of stealing arises only from hence ; there
is another cause of it more peculiar to England.' — * What is
that ? ' said the Cardinal. — ' The increase of pasture,' said I,
' by which your sheep, which are naturally mild, and easily
kept in order, may be said now to devour men, and un-
people, not only villages, but towns ; for wherever it is
found that the sheep of any soil yield a softer and richer
wool than ordinary, there the nobility and gentry, and even
i those holy men the abbots, not contented with the old rents
which their farms yielded, nor thinking it enough that they,
living at their ease, do no good to the public, resolve to do
it hurt instead of good. They stop the course of agriculture,
destroying houses and towns, reserving only the churches,
and enclose grounds that they may lodge their sheep in them.
As if forests and parks had swallowed up too little of the
land, those worthy countrymen turn the best inhabited
places in* solitudes ; for when an insatiable wretch, who is
a plague to his country, resolves to inclose many thousand
acres of ground, the owners, as well as tenants, are turned
out of their possessions, by tricks, or by main force, or being
wearied out with ill usage, they are forced to sell them. By
which means those miserable people, both men and women,
married and unmarried, old and young, with their poor but
numerous families (since country business requires many
hands), are all forced U> change their seats, not knowing
whither to go ; and they must sell almost for nothing their
household stuff, which could not bring them much money,
even though they might stay for a buyer. When that little
money is at an end, for it will be soon spent ; what is left
for them to do, but either to steal and so to be hanged
(God knows how justly), or to go about and beg ? And if
they do this, they are put in prison as idle vagabonds;
yhile they would willingly work, but can find none that will

UTOPIA. 6$

hire them ; for there is no more occasion for country labour,
to which they have been bred, when there is no arable
ground left. One shepherd can look after a flock, which
will stock an extent of ground that would require many
hands, if it were to be ploughed and reaped. This likewise
in many places raises the price of corn. The price of
wool is also so risen, that the poor people who were wont
to make cloth are no more able to buy it; and this like-
wise makes many of them idle. For since the increase of ]
pasture, God has punished the avarice of the owners, by a
rot among the sheep, which has destroyed vast numbers of
them ; to us it might have seemed more just had it fell on
the owners themselves. But suppose the sheep should in-
crease ever so much, their price is not like to fall ; since
though they cannot be called a monopoly, because they are
not engrossed by one person, yet they are in so few hands,
and these are so rich, that as they are not pressed to sell them
sooner than they have a mind to it, so they never do it till
they have raised the price as high as possible. And on the
same account it is, that the other kinds of cattle are so dear,
because many villages being pulled down, and all country
labour being much neglected, there are none who make it
their business to breed them. The rich do not breed cattle
as they do sheep, but buy them lean, and at low prices ; and \
after they have fattened them on their grounds, sell them
again at high rates. And I do not think that all the incon- '
veniences this will produce are yet observed ; for as they sell
the cattle dear, so if they are consumed faster than the
breeding countries from which they are brought can afford
them, then the stock must decrease, and this must needs
end in great scarcity ; and by these means this your island,
which seemed as to this particular the happiest in the
world, will suffer much by the cursed avarice of a few
persons ; besides this, the rising of corn makes all people
lessen their families as much as they can • ,and what can

66 UTOPIA.

those who are dismissed by them do, but either beg or rob *
And to this last, a man of a great mind is much sooner
drawn than to the former. Luxury likewise breaks in apace
upon you,' to set forward your poverty and misery ; there is
an excessive vanity in apparel, and great cost in diet; and
that not only in noblemen's families, but even among
tradesmen, among the farmers themselves, and among
all ranks of persons. You have also many infamous
houses, and besides those that are known, the taverns and
alehouses are no better ; add to these, dice, cards, tables,
foot-ball, tennis, and quoits, in which money runs fast away;
and those that are initiated into them, must in the conclusion
betake themselves to robbing for a supply. Banish these
plagues, and give orders that those who have dispeopled so
much soil, may either rebuild the villages they have pulled
down, or let out their grounds to such as will do it : restrain
those engrossings of the rich, that are as bad almost as mono-
polies ; leave fewer occasions to idleness ; let agriculture be set
up again, and the manufacture of the wool be regulated, that so
there may be work found for those companies of idle people
whom want forces to be thieves, or who now being idle
vagabonds, or useless servants, will certainly grow thieves at
last. If you do not find a remedy to these evils, it is a vain
thing to boast of your severity in punishing theft, which
though it may have the appearance of justice, yet in itself is
neither just nor convenient. For if you suffer your people
to be ill educated, and their manners to be corrupted from
their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to
which their first education disposed them, what else is to
be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and
then punish them?'

u While I was talking thus, the counsellor who was present
had prepared an answer, and had resolved to resume all I
had said, according to the formality of a debate, in which
things are generally repeated more faithfully than they arc

UTOPIA. 67

answered ; as if the chief trial to be made were of men's
memories. ' You have talked prettily for a stranger,' said
he,-' having heard of many things among us which you have
not been able to consider well ; but I will make the whole
matter plain to you, and will first repeat in order all that
you have said, then I will show how much your ignorance of
our affairs has misled you, and will in the last place answer
all your arguments. And that I may begin where I promised,

there were four things ' ' Hold your peace,' said the

Cardinal, ' this will take up too much time ; therefore we will
at present ease you of the trouble of answering, and reserve
it to our next meeting, which shall be to-morrow, if Raphael's
affairs and yours can admit of it. But, Kaphael/ said he to
me, ' I would/gladly know upon what reason it is that you
think theft ought not to be punished by death ? Would
you give way to it ? Or do you propose any other punish-
ment that will be more useful to the public ? For since
death does not restrain theft, if men thought their lives
would be safe, what fear or force could restrain ill men ?
On the contrary, they would look on the mitigation of the
punishment as an invitation to commit more crimes.' I
answered, ' It seems to me a very unjust thing to take away &
man's life for a little money ; for nothing in the world can
be of equal value with a man's life : and if it is said, that it
is not for the money that one suffers, but for his breaking
the law, I must say, extreme justice is an extreme injury;
for we ought not to approve of these terrible laws that make
the smallest offences capital, nor of that opinion of the
Stoics, that makes all crimes equal, as if there were no
difference to be made between the killing a man and the
taking his purse, between which, if we examine things
impartially, there is no likeness nor proportion. God has
commanded us not to kill, and shall Ve kill so easily for a
little money ? But if one shall say, that by that law we are
Mily forbid to kill any, except when the laws of the land

c 2

68 UTOPIA.

allow of it ; upon the same grounds, laws may be made in
some cases to allow of adulteryand perjury: for God
having taken from us the right of disposing, either of our
own or of other people's lives, if it is pretended that the
mutual consent of man in making laws can authorize man-
slaughter in cases in which God has given us no example,
that it frees people from the obligation of the divine law,
and so makes murder a lawful action; what is this, but to
give a preference to human laws before the divine ? And if
this is once admitted, by the same rule men may in all
other things put what restrictions they please upon the laws
of God. If by the Mosaical law, though it was rough and
severe, as being a yoke laid on an obstinate and servile
nation, men were only fined, and not put to death for theft,
we cannot imagine that in this new law of mercy, in which
God treats us with the tenderness of a father, He has given
us a greater license to cruelty than He did to the Jews.
Upon these reasons it is, that I think putting thieves to
death is not lawful ; and it is plain and obvious that it is
absurd, and of ill consequence to the commonwealth, that
a thief and a murderer should be equally punished ; for if a
robber sees that his danger is the same, if he is convicted of
theft as if he were guilty of murder, this will naturally incite
him to kill the person whom otherwise he would only have
robbed, since if the punishment is the same, there is more
security, and less danger of discovery, when he that can
best make it is put out of the way ; so that terrifying thieves
too much, provokes them to cruelty.

" ' But as to the question, what more convenient way of
punishment can be found ? I think it is much more easier
to find out that, than to invent anything that is worse ; wny
should we doubt but the way that was so long in use among
the old Romans, who understood so well the arts of gov-
ernment, was very proper for their punishment ? They
condemned such as they found guilty of great crimes, to

VtoPJA. 69

work their whole lives in quarries, or to dig in mines with
chains about them. But the method that I liked best, was
that which I observed in my travels in Persia, among the
Polylerits, who are a considerable and. well-governed people.
They pay a yearly tribute to the King of Persia ; but in all
other respects they are a free nation, and governed by their
own laws. They lie far from the sea, and are environed
j with hills; and being contented with the productions of
their own country, which is very fruitful, they have little
commerce with any other nation ; and as they, according
to the genius of their country, have no inclination to enlarge
their borders ; so their mountains, and the pension they pay
to the Persian, secure them from all invasions. Thus they
have no wars among them ; they live rather conveniently
than with splendour, and may be rather called a happy
nation, than either eminent or famous ; for I do not think
that they are known so much as by name to any but their
next neighbours. Those that are found guilty of theft among
them, are bound to make restitution to the owner, and not/
as it is in other places, to the prince, for they reckon that
the prince has no more right to the stolen goods than the
thief ; but if that which was stolen is no more in being, then
the goods of the thieves are estimated, and restitution being
made out of them, the remainder is given to their wives and
children : and they themselves are condemned to serve in
the public works, but are neither imprisoned, nor chained,
unless there happened to be some extraordinary circum-
stances in their crimes. They go about loose and free,
working for the public. If they are idle or backward to
work, they are whipped ; but if they work hard, they are
well used and treated "jithout any mark of reproach, only
me lists of them are called always at night, and then they
are shut up. They suffer no other uneasiness, but this of
constant labour ; for as they work for the public, so they
are well entertained out of the public stock, which is done

?& UTOPIA.

differently in different places. In some places, whatever is
bestowed on them, is raised by a charitable contribution ;
and though this way may seem uncertain, yet so merciful
are the inclinations of that people, that they are plentifully
supplied by it ; but in other places, public revenues are set
aside for them ; or there is a constant tax of a poll-money
raised for their maintenance. In some places they are set
to no public work, but every private man that has occasion
to hire workmen, goes to the market-places and hires them
®f the public, a little lower than he would do a freeman : if
they go lazily about their task, he may quicken them with
the whip. By this means there is always some piece of
work or other to be done by them ; and beside their liveli-
hood, they earn somewhat still to the public. They all
wear a peculiar habit, of one certain colour, and their hair
is cropped a little above their ears, and a piece of one of
their ears is cut off. Their friends are allowed to give them
either meat, drink, or clothes, so they are of their proper
colour; but it is death, both to the giver and taker, if they
give them money ; nor is it less penal for any freeman to
take money from them, upon any account whatsoever : and
it is also death for any of these slaves (so they are called) to
handle arms. Those of every division of the country are
distinguished by a peculiar mark ; which it is capital for
them to lay aside, to go out of their bounds, or to talk with
a slave of another jurisdiction ; and the very attempt of an
escape is no less penal than an escape itself; it is death
for any other slave to be accessory to it ; and if a freeman
engages in it he is condemned to slavery. Those that dis-
cover it are rewarded ; if freemen, in money ; and if slaves,
with liberty, together with a pardon for being accessory to it ;
that so they might find their account, rather in repenting oi
their engaging in such a design, than in persisting in it.

" These are their laws and rules in relation to robbery
and it is obvious that they are as advantageous as they are

mo PI A. 7i

mild and gentle ; since vice is not only destroyed, and
men preserved, but they treated in such a manner as to
make them see the necessity of being honest, and of
employing the rest of their lives in repairing the injuries
they have foVmerly done to society. Nor is there any
hazard of their falling back to their old customs : and so
little do travellers apprehend mischief from them, that they
generally make use of them for guides, from one jurisdiction
to another ; for there is nothing left them by which they
can rob, or be the better for it, since as they are disarmed,
so the very having of money is a sufficient conviction : and
as they are certainly punished if discovered, so they cannot
hope to escape ; for their habit being in all the parts of
it different from what is commonly worn, they cannot fly
away, unless they would go naked, and even then their
cropped ear would betray them. The only danger to be
feared from them, is their conspiring against the govern-
ment : but those of one division and neighbourhood can do
nothing to any purpose, unless a general conspiracy were
laid amongst all the slaves of the several jurisdictions,
which cannot be done, since they cannot meet or talk
together ; nor will any venture on a design where the
concealment would be so dangerous, and the discovery so
profitable. None are quite hopeless of recovering their
freedom, since by their obedience and patience, and by
giving good grounds to believe that they will change their
manner of life for the future, they may expect at last to
obtain their liberty : and some are every year restored to it,
upon the good character that is given of them. — When I
had related all this, I added, that I did not see why such a
method might not be followed with more advantage, than
could ever be expected from that severe justice which the
counsellor magnified so much. To this he answered, that
it could never take place in England, without endangering
the whole Cation. As he said this, he shook, his head, made

72 UTOPIA.

some grimaces, and held his peace, while all the company
seemed of his opinion, except the Cardinal, who said that it
was not easy to form a judgment of its success, since it
was a method that never yet had been tried. ' But if,' said
he, * when the sentence of death was passed upon a thief,
the prince would reprieve him for a while, and make the
experiment upon him, denying him the privilege of a
sanctuary ; and then if it had a good effect upon him, it
might take place ; and if it did not succeed, the worst would
be, to execute the sentence on the condemned persons at
last. And I do not see,' added he, ' why it would be either
unjust, inconvenient, or at all dangerous, to admit of such
a delay : in my opinion, the vagabonds ought to be treated
in the same manner ; against whom, though we have made
many laws, yet we have not been able to gain our end.'
When the Cardinal had done, they all conrmended the
motion, though they had despised it when it came from
me j but more particularly commended what related to the
vagabonds, because it was his own observation.

" I do not know whether it be worth while to tell what
followed, for it was very ridiculous ; but I shall venture at
it, for as it is not foreign to this matter, so some good use
may be made of it. There was a jester standing by, that
counterfeited the fool so naturally, that he seemed to be
really one. The jests which he offered were so cold and
dull, that we laughed more at him than at them ; yet some-
times he said, as it were by chance, things that were not
unpleasant ; so as to justify the old proverb, ' That he who
throws the dice often, will sometimes have a. lucky hit.'
When one of the company had said, that I had taken care
of the thieves, and the Cardinal had taken care of the
vagabonds, so that there remained nothing but that some
public provision might be made for the poor, whom sickness
or old age had disabled from labour. ' Leave that to me,' said
the fool, ' and I shall take care of them ; for there is no- sort

VTOPIA. 73

t>f people whose sight I abhor more, having been so often
7exed with them, and with their sad complaints ; but as
Dolefully soever as they have told their tale, they could never
prevail so far as to draw one penny from me : for either I had
no mind to give them anything, or when I had a mind to do
it, I had nothing to give them : and they now know me so
well, that they will not lose their labour, but let me pass with
out giving me any trouble, because they hope for nothing, no
more in faith than if I were a priest : but I would have a
Taw made, for sending all these beggars to monasteries, the
men to the Benedictines to be made lay-brothers, and the
women to be nuns.' The Cardinal smiled, and approved of
it in jest; but the rest liked it in earnest. There was a
divine present, who though he was a grave morose man, yet
he was so pleased with this reflection that was made on the
priests and the monks, that he began to play with the fool,
and said to him, * This will not deliver you from all beggars,
except you take care of us friars.' — ' That is done already,'
answered the fool, ' for the Cardinal has provided for you,
by what he proposed for restraining vagabonds, and setting
them to work, for I know no vagabonds like you.' This
was well entertained by the whole company, who looking
at the Cardinal, perceived that he was not ill pleased at it ;
only the friar himself was vexed, as may be easily imagined,
and fell into such a passion, that he could not forbear
railing at the fool, and calling him knave, slanderer, back-
biter, and son of perdition, and then cited some dreadful
threatenings out of the Scriptures against him. Now the
jester thought he was in his element, and laid about him
freely. * Good friar,' said he, ' be not angry, for it is written,
" In patience possess your soul."' — The friar answered (for
I shall give you his own words), « I am not angry, you hang-
man ; at least I do not sin in it, for the Psalmist says, " Be
ye angry, and sin not." '—Upon this the Cardinal admonished
him gently, and wished him to govern his passions. ' No,

^4 UTOPtA.

my lord,' said he, * I speak not but from a good zeal, which
I ought to have ; for holy men have had a good zeal, as it
is said, " The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up ; " and we
sing in our church, that those who mocked Elisha as he
went up to the house of God, felt the effects of his zeal ;
which that mocker, that rogue, that scoundrel, will perhaps
feel.' — * You do this perhaps with a good intention,' said the
Cardinal; 'but in my opinion, it were wiser in you, and
perhaps better for you, not to engage in so ridiculous a
contest with a fool.' — * No, my lord,' answered he, ' that were
not wisely done ; for Solomon, the wisest of men, said.
"Answer a fool according to his folly;" which I now do,
and show him the ditch into which he will fall, if he is not
aware of it ; for if the many mockers of Elisha, who was
but one bald man, felt the effect of his zeal, what will
become of one mocker of so many friars, among whom
there are so many bald men ? We have likewise a Bull, by \
which all that jeer us are excommunicated.' — When the \
Cardinal saw that there was no end of this matter, he made
a sign to the fool to withdraw, turned the discourse another
way ; and soon after rose from the table, and dismissing us,
went to hear causes.

" Thus, Mr. More, I have run out into a tedious story, of
the length of which I had been ashamed, if, as you earnestly
begged it of me, I had not observed you to hearken to it,
as if you had no mind to lose any part of it. I might have
contracted it, but I resolved to give it you at large, that
you might observe how those that despised what I had
proposed, no sooner perceived that the Cardinal did not
dislike it, but presently approved of it, fawned so on him,
and flattered him to such a degree, that they in good
earnest applauded those things that he only liked in jest.
And from hence you may gather, how little courtiers would
/alue either me or my counsels."

To this I answered, ''You have done me a great kindness

UTOPIA. ;$

*n this relation ; for as everything has been related by you,
6oth wisely and pleasantly, so you have made me imagine
that I was in my own country, and grown young again, by
recalling that good Cardinal to my thoughts, in whose
family I was bred from my childhood : and though you are
upon other accounts very dear to me, yet you are the dearer,
because you honour his memory so much • but after all this
\ cannot change my opinion ; for I still think that if you
could overcome that aversion which you have to the Courts
-of Princes, you might, by the advice which it is in your
power to give, do a great deal of good to mankind ; and
this is the chief design that every good man ought .to
propose to himself in living : for your friend Plato thinks
that nations will be happy, when either philosophers
become kings, or kings become philosophers, it is no
wonder if we are so far from that happiness, while philo-
sophers will not think it their duty to assist kings with their
councils." — " They are not so base-minded," said he, '* but
that they would willingly do it ; many of them have already
done it by their books, if those that are in power would but
hearken to their good advice. But Plato judged right,
that except kings themselves became philosophers, they
who from their childhood are corrupted with false notions,
would never fall in entirely with the councils of philosophers,
and this he himself found to be true in the person of
Dionysius.

11 Do not you think, that if I were about any king, pro-
posing good laws to him, and endeavouring to root out
all the cursed seeds of evil that I found in him, I should
either be turned out of his Court, or at least be laughed at
for my pains ? For instance, what could it signify if I were
about the King of France, and were called into his cabinet-
council, where several wise men, in his hearing, were pro-
posing many expedients : as by what arts and practices
Milan may be kept ; and Naples, that had so oft slipped out

tf VTOPIA.

of their hands, recovered; how the Venetians, and after
them the rest of Italy, may be subdued; and then how
Flanders, Brabant, and all Burgundy, and some other king-
doms which he has swallowed already in his designs, may
be added to his empire. One proposes a league with the
Venetians, to be kept as long as he finds his account in it,
and that he ought to communicate councils with them, and
give them some share of the spoil, till his success makes
him need or fear them less, and then it will be easily taken
out of their hands. Another proposes the hiring the
Germans, and the securing the Switzers by pensions.
Another proposes the gaining the Emperor by money,
which is omnipotent with him. Another proposes a
peace with the King of Arragon, and in order to cement
it, the yielding up the King of Navarre's pretensions.
Another thinks the Prince of Castile is to be wrought on,
by the hope of an alliance ; and that seme of his courtiers
are to be gained to the French faction by pensions. The
hardest point of all is what to do with England : a treaty
of peace is to be set on foot, and if their alliance is not to
be depended on, yet it is to be made as firm as possible ;
and they are to be called friends, but suspected as enemies :
therefore the Scots are to be kept in readiness, to be let
loose upon England on every occasion : and some banished
nobleman is to be supported underhand (for by the league
it cannot be done avowedly) who has a pretension to the
crown, by which means that suspected prince may be kept
in awe. Now when things are in so great a fermentation,
and so many gallant men are joining councils, how to carry
on the war, if so mean. a man as I should stand up, aud
wish them to change all their councils, to let Italy alone,
and stay at home, since the kingdom of France was indeed
greater than could be well governed by one man; that
therefore he ought not to think of adding others to it : and
if after this, I should propose to them the resolutions of the

:

ai

UTOPIA. 77

Achorians, a people that lie on the south-east of Utopia,
who long ago engaged in war, in order to add to the
dominions of their prince another kingdom, to which he
had some pretensions by an ancient alliance. This they
conquered, but found that the trouble of keeping it was
equal to that by which it was gained ; that the conquered
people were always either in rebellion or exposed to foreign
invasions, while they were obliged to be incessantly at war,
either for or against them, and consequently could never
disband their army; that in the meantime they were
oppressed with taxes, their money went out of the kingdom,
their blood was spilt for the glory of their king, without
procuring the least advantage to the people, who received
not the smallest benefit from it even in time of peace ; and
that their manners being corrupted by a long war, robbery
and murders everywhere abounded, and their laws fell into
contempt ; while their king, distracted with the care of two
kingdoms, was the less able to apply his mind to the in-
terests of either. When they saw this, and that there would
be no end to these evils, they by joint councils made an
humble address to their king, desiring him to choose which
of the two kingdoms he had the greatest mind to keep,
since he could not hold both ; for they were too great a
people to be governed by a divided king, since no man would
willingly have a groom that should be in common between
him and another. Upon which the good prince was forced
to quit his new kingdom to one of his friends (who was not
long after dethroned), and to be contented with his old one.
o this I would add, that after all those warlike attempts,
the vast confusions, and the consumption both of treasure
and of people that must follow them ; perhaps upon some
misfortune, they might be forced to throw up all at last ;
therefore it seemed much more eligible that the king jhould
improve his ancient kingdom all he could, and make it
flourish as much as possible; that he should love his people,

78 UTOPTA.

and be beloved of them ; that he should live among them,
govern them gently, and let other kingdoms alone, since
that which had fallen to his share was big enough, if not too
big for him. Pray how do you think would such a speech as
this be heard?"— "I confess," said I, "I think not very well."
' ' But what," said he, " if I should sort with another kind of
ministers, whose chief contrivances and consultations were,
by what art the prince's treasures might be increased.
Where one proposes raising the value of specie when the
king's debts are large, and lowering it when his revenues
were to come in, that so he might both pay much with a
little, and in a little receive a great deal : another proposes
a pretence of a war, that money might be raised in order to
carry it on, and that a peace be concluded as soon as that
was done ; and this with such appearances of religion as
might work on the people, and make them impute it to the
piety of their prince, and to his tenderness for the lives of his
subjects. A third offers some old musty laws, that have
been antiquated by a long disuse ; and which, as they had
been forgotten by all the subjects, so they had been also
broken by them ; and proposes the levying the penalties of
these laws, that as it would bring in a vast treasure, so there
might be a very good pretence for it, since it would look
like the executing a law, and the doing of justice. A fourth
proposes the prohibiting of many things under severe penal-
ties, especially such as were against the interest of the people,
and then the dispensing with these prohibitions upon great
compositions, to those who might find theif advantage in
breaking them. This would serve two ends, both of them
acceptable to many ; for as those whose avarice led them to
transgress would be severely fined, so the selling licenses
dear would look as if a prince were tender of his people,
and would not easily, or at low rates, dispense with any-
thing that might be against the public good. Another pro-
poses that the judges must be made sure, that they may

UTOPIA. 79

declare always in favour of the prerogative, that they must
be often sent, for to Court, that the king may hear them argue
those points in which he is concerned ; since how unjust
soever any of his pretensions may be, yet still some one or
other of them, either out of contradiction to others, or the
pride of singularity, or to make their court, would find out
some pretence or other to give the king a fair colour to carry
the point : for if the judges but differ in opinion, the clearest
thing in the world is made by that means disputable, and
truth being 'once brought in question, the king may then
take advantage to expound the law for his own profit ; while
the iudges that stand out will be brought over, either out ol
fear or modesty; and they being thus gained, all of them
may be sent to the bench to give sentence boldly, as the
king would have it; for fair pretences will never be want- 4
ing when sentence is to be given in the prince's favour. It
will either be said that equity lies of his side, or some words
in the law will be found sounding that way, or some forced
sense will be put on them ; and when all other things fail,
the king's undoubted prerogative will be pretended, as that
which is above all law ; and to which a religious judge ought
to have a special regard. Thus all consent to that maxim
of Crassus, that a prince cannot have treasure enough, since
he must maintain his armies out of it : that a king, even
though he would, can do nothing unjustly ; that all property
is in him, not excepting the very persons of his subjects :
and that no man has any other property, but that which the
king out of his goodness thinks fit to leave him. And they V
think it is the prince's interest, that there be as little of this
left as may be, as if it were his advantage that his people
should have neither riches nor liberty ; since these things
make them less easy and less willing to submit to a cruei
and unjust government; whereas necessity and poverty
blunts them, makes them patient, beats them down, and
breaks that height of spirit, that might otherwise dispose

8o UTOPIA.

them to rebel. Now what if after all these propositions were
made, I should rise up and assert, that such councils were
both unbecoming a king, and mischievous to him : and that
not only his honour but his safety consisted more in his
people's wealth, than in his own ; if I should show that they
choose a king for their own sake, and not for hk ; that by his
care and endeavours they may be both easy and safe ; and
that therefore a prince ought to take more care of his people's
happiness than of his own, as a shepherd is to take more
care of his flock than of himself. It is also certain, that they
are much mistaken that think the poverty of a nation is a
means of the public safety. Who quarrel more than beggars ?
Who does more earnestly long for a change, than he that is /
uneasy in his present circumstances ? And who run to (
create confusions with so desperate a boldness, as those who
have nothing to lose, hope to gain by them ? If a king
should fall under such contempt or envy, that he could not
keep his subjects in their duty, but by oppression and ill
usage, and by rendering them poor and miserable, it were
certainly better for him to quit his kingdom, than to retain
it by such methods, as makes him while he keeps the name
of authority, lose the majesty due to it. Nor is if so becom-
ing the dignity of a king to reign over beggars, as over rich
and happy subjects. And therefore Fabricius, a man of a
noble and exalted temper, said, he would rather govern rich
men, than be rich himself ; since for one man to abound in
wealth and pleasure, when all about him are mourning and
groaning, is to be a gaoler and not a king. He is an un«
skilful physician, that cannot cure one disease without cast-
ing his patient into another : so he that can find no other
way for correcting the errors of his people, but by taking
from them the conveniences of life, shows that he knows
not what it is to govern a free nation. He himself ought
rather to shake off his sloth, or to lay down his pride ; for
the contempt or hatred that his people have for him, takes

UTOPIA. 8 1

its rise from the vices in himself. Let him live upon what
belongs to him, without wronging others, and accommodate
his expense to his revenue. Let him punish crimes, and by
his wise conduct let him endeavour to prevent them, rather
than be severe when he has suffered them to be too common :
let him not rashly revive laws that are abrogated by disuse,
especially if they have been long forgotten, and never wanted ;
and let him never take any penalty for the breach of them,
to which a judge would not give way in a private man, but
would look on him as a crafty and unjust person for pretend-
ing to it. To these things I would add, that law among
the Macarians, a people that lie not far from Utopia, by
which their king, on the day on which he begins to reign, is
tied by an oath confirmed by solemn sacrifices, never to have
at once above a thousand pounds of gold in his treasures, or
so- much silver as is equal to that in value. This law, they
tell us, was made by an excellent king, who had more regard
to the riches of his country than to his own wealth ; and
therefore provided against the heaping up of so much treasure,
as might impoverish the people. He thought that moderate
sum might be sufficient for any accident ; if either the king
had occasion for it against rebels, or the kingdom against
the invasion of an enemy ; but that it was not enough to en-
courage a prince to invade other men's rights, a circumstance
that was the chief cause of his making that law. He also
thought that it was a good provision for that free circula-
tion of money, so necessary for the course of commerce and
exchange : and when a king must distribute all those ex-
traordinary accessions that increase treasure beyond the due
pitch, it makes him less disposed to oppress his subjects.
Such a king as this will be the terror of ill men, and will be
beloved by all the good.

" If, I say, I should talk of these or such like things, to men
that had taken their bias another way, how deaf would they
be to all I could say?" — "No doubt, very deaf," answered 1$

82 UTOPIA.

and no wonder, for one is never to offer at propositions or
advice that we are certain will not be entertained. Dis-
courses so much out of the road could not avail anything,
nor have any effect on men whose minds were prepossessed
with different sentiments. This philosophical way of specu-
lation is not unpleasant among friends in a free conversation,
but there is no room for it in the Courts of Princes where
great affairs are carried on by authority." — ''That is what I
was saying," replied he, "that there is no room for philosophy
in the Courts of Princes." — "Yes, there is," said I, "but not
for this speculative philosophy that makes everything to be
alike fitting at all times : but there is another philosophy that
is more pliable, that knows its proper scene, accommodates
itself to it, and teaches a man with propriety and decency to
act that part which has fallen to his share. If when one of
Plautus's comedies is upon the stage and a company of
servants are acting their parts, you should come out in the
garb of a philosopher, and repeat out of ' Octavia' a discourse
of Seneca's to Nero, would it not be better for you to say
nothing than by mixing things of such different natures to
make an impertinent tragi-comedy ? For you spoil and
corrupt the play that is in hand when you mix with it things
of an opposite nature, even though they are much better.
Therefore go through with the play that is acting the best
you can, and do not confound it because another that is plea-
santer comes into your thoughts. It is even so in a common-
wealth, and in the councils of princes ; if ill opinions cannot be
quite rooted out, and you cannot cure some received vice ac-
cording to your wishes, you must not therefore abandon the
commonwealth, for the same reasons you should not forsake
the ship in a storm because you cannot command the winds.
You are not obliged to assault people with discourses that
are out of their road, when you see that their received
notions must prevent your making an impression upon them.
You ought rather to cast about and to manage things with.

UTOPIA. 83

all the dexterity in your power, so that if you are not able to
make them go well they may be as little ill as possible ; for
except all men were good everything cannot be right, and
that is a blessing that I do not at present hope to see. Ac-
cording to your arguments/' answered he, " all that I could
be able to do would be to preserve myself from being mad
while I endeavoured to cure the madness of others; for if I
speak truth, I must repeat what I have said to you ; and as
for lying, whether a philosopher can do it or not, I cannot
tell, I am sure I cannot do it. But though these discourses
may be uneasy and ungrateful to them, I do not see why
they should seem foolish or extravagant : indeed if I should
either propose such things as Plato has contrived in his
commonwealth, or as the Utopians practise in theirs, though
they might seem better, as certainly they are, yet they are
so different from our establishment, which is founded on
property, there being no such thing among them, that I could
not expect that it would have any effect on them ; but such
discourses as mine, which only call past evils to mind and
give warning of what may follow, have nothing in them that
is so absurd that they may not be used at any time, for they
can only be unpleasant to those who are resolved to run
headlong the contrary way ; and if we must let alone every-
thing as absurd or extravagant which by reason of the wicked
lives of many may seem uncouth, we must, even among
Christians, give over pressing the greatest part of those
things that Christ hath taught us, though He has commanded
us not to conceal them, but to proclaim on the house-tops
that which He taught in secret. The greatest parts of His
precepts are more opposite to the lives of the men of this
age than any part of my discourse has been; but the
preachers seemed to have learned that craft to which you
advise me, for they observing that the world would not
willingly suit their lives to the rules that Christ has given,
have fitted His doctrine as if it had been a leaden rule, to

$4 UTOPIA.

vheir lives, that so some way or other they might agree with
)ne another. But I see no other effect of this compliance
except it be that men become more secure in their wicked-
ness by it. And this is all the success that I can have in a
Court, for I must always differ from the rest, and then I shall
signify nothing; or if I agree with them, I shall then only
help forward their madness. I do not comprehend what
you mean by your casting about, or by the bending and
handling things so dexterously, that if they go not well they
may go as little ill as may be ; for in Courts they will not
bear with a man's holding his peace or conniving at what
others do. A man must barefacedly approve of the worst
counsels, and consent to the blackest designs : so that he
would pass for a spy, or possibly for a traitor, that did but
coldly approve of such wicked practices : and therefore
when a man is engaged in such a society, he will be so far
from being able to mend matters by his casting about, as
you call it, that he will find no occasions of doing any good :
the ill company will sooner corrupt him, than be the better
for him : or if notwithstanding all their ill company, he still
remains steady and innocent, yet their follies and knavery
will be imputed to him ; and by mixing counsels with them,
he must bear his share of all the blame that belongs wholly
to others.

" It was no ill simile by which Plato set forth the un-
reasonableness of a philosopher's meddling with government.
If a man, says he, was to see a great company run out every
day into the rain, and take delight in being wet ; if he knew
that it would be to no purpose for him to go and persuade
them to return to their houses, in order to avoid the storm,
and that all that could be expected by his going to speak to
them would be that he himself should be as wet as they, it
would be best for him to keep within doors ; and since he
had not influence enough to correct other people's folly, to
take care to preserve himself.

an

E

UTOPIA. 85

K Though to speak plainly my real sentiments, I must freely
own, that as long as there is any property, and while money
is the standard of all other things, I cannot think that a
nation can be governed either justly or happily: not justly,
because the best things will fall to the share of the worst
men ; nor happily, because all things will be divided among
a few (and even these are not in all respects happy), the
rest being left to be absolutely miserable. Therefore when
I reflect on the wise and good constitution of the Utopians,
among whom all things are so well governed, and with so
few laws ; where virtue hath its due reward, and yet there is
such an equality, that every man lives in plenty ; when I
compare with them so many other nations that are still
making new laws, and yet can never bring their constitution
to a right regulation, where notwithstanding every one has
his property ; yet all the laws that they can invent have not
the power either to obtain or preserve it, or even to enable
men certainly to distinguish what is their own from what is
another's ; of which the many lawsuits that every day break
out, and are eternally depending, give too plain a demon-
stration; when, I say, I balance all these things in my
thoughts, I grow more favourable to Plato, and do not
wonder that he resolved- not to make any laws for such as
would not submit to a community of all things : for so wise
a man could not but foresee that the setting all upon a level
was the only way to make a nation happy, which cannot be
obtained so long as there is property : for when every man
draws to himself all that he can compass, by one title or
another, it must needs follow, that how plentiful soever a
tion may be, yet a few dividing the wealth of it among
emselves, the rest must fall into indigence. So that there
will be two sorts of people among them, who deserve that
their fortunes should be interchanged ; the former useless,
but wicked and ravenous; and the latter, who by their
constant industry serve the public more than themselves,

§6 V10P1A

sincere and modest men. From whence I am persuaded,
that till property is taken away there can be no equitable
or just distribution of things, nor can the world be happily
governed : for as long as that is maintained, the greatest and
the far best part of mankind will be still oppressed with a
load of cares and anxieties. I confess without taking it
quite away, those pressures that lie on a great part of man-
kind may be made lighter ; but they can never be quite
removed. For if laws were made to determine at how great
an extent in soil, and at how much money every man must
stop, to limit the prince that he might not grow too great,
and to restrain the people that they might not become too
insolent, and that none might factiously aspire to public
employments ; which ought neither to be sold, nor made
burthensome by a great expense ; since otherwise those that
serve in them would be tempted to reimburse themselves by
cheats and violence, and it wpuld become necessary to find
out rich men for undergoing those employments which ought
rather to be trusted to the wise. These laws, I say, might
have such effects, as good diet and care might have on a sick
man, whose recovery is desperate : they might allay and
mitigate the disease, but it could never be quite healed, nor
the body politic be brought again to a good habit, as long as
property remains ; and it will fall out as in a complication of
diseases, that by applying a remedy to one sore, you will
provoke another ; and that which removes the one ill
symptom produces others, while the strengthening one part of
the body weakens the rest." — "On the contrary," answered I,
" it seems to me that men cannot live conveniently, where all
things are common : how can there be any plenty, where
every man will excuse himself from labour ? For as the
hope of gain doth not excite him, so the confidence that he
has in other men's industry may make him slothful : it
people come to be pinched with want, and yet cannot dis-
pose of anything as their own ; what can follow upon this

'iut perpetual sedition and bloodshed, especially when the
reverence and authority due to magistrates falls to the
ground ? For I cannot imagine how that can be kept up
among those that are in all things equal to one another." — " I
do not wonder,1' said he, "that it appears so to you, since you
have no notion, or at least no right one, of such a constitu-
tion : but if you had been in Utopia with me, and had seen
their laws and rules, as I did, for the space of five years, in
which I lived among them ; and dimng which time I was so
delighted with them, that indeed I should never have left
them, if it had not been to make the discovery of that new
world to the Europeans ; you would then confess that you
had never seen a people so well constituted as they." — " You
will not easily persuade me," said Peter, " that any nation in
that new world is better governed than those among us.
For as our understandings are not worse than theirs, so our
government, if I mistake not, being more ancient, a long
practice has helped us to find out many conveniences of
life : and some happy chances have discovered other things
to us, which no man's understanding could ever have in-
vented."— " As for the antiquity, either of their government,
or of ours," said he, " you cannot pass a true judgment of it,
unless you had read their histories ; for if they are to be
believed, they had towns among them before these parts
were so much as inhabited. And as for those discoveries,
that have been either hit on by chance, or made by in-
genious men, these might have happened there as well as
here. I do not deny but we are more ingenious than they
are, but they exceed us much in industry and application.
They knew little concerning us before our arrival among
them ; they call us all by a general name of the nations that
lie beyond the Equinoctial Line ; for their Chronicle men-
tions a shipwreck that was made on their coast 1,200 years
ago ; and that some Romans and Egyptians that were in the
ship, getting safe ashore, spent the rest of their days amongst

88 UTOPIA.

them ; and such was their ingenuity, that from this single
opportunity they drew the advantage of learning from those
unlooked-for guests, and acquired all the useful arts that
were then among the Romans, and which were known to
these shipwrecked men : and by the hints that they gave
them, they themselves found out even some of those arts
which they could not fully explain ; so happily did they im-
prove that accident, of having some of our people cast upon
their shore. But if such an accident has at any time brought
any from thence 'into Europe, we have been so far from
improving it, that we do not so much .as remember it ; as in
after-times perhaps it will be forgot by our people that I was
ever there. For though they from one such accident made
themselves masters of all the good inventions that were
among us j yet I believe it would be long before we should
learn or put in practice any of the good institutions that are
among them. And this is the true cause of their being
better governed, and living happier than we, though we
come not short of them in point of understanding or out-
ward advantages." — Upon this I said to him, " I earnestly beg
you would describe that island very particularly to us. Be
not too short, but set out in order all things relating to their
soil, their rivers, their towns, their people, their manners,
constitution, laws, and, in a word, all that you imagine we
desire to know. And you may well imagine that we desire
to know everything concerning them, of which we are hitherto
ignorant." — " I will do it very willingly," said he, " for I
have digested the whole matter carefully ; but it will take up
some time." — " Let us go then," said I, " first and dine, and
then we shall have leisure enough." He consented. We went
in and dined, and after dinner came back, and sat down in the
same place. I ordered in; servants to *ake care that none
might come and interrupt us. And both Peter and I
desired Raphael to be as good as his word. When he saw
that we were very intent upon it, he paused a little to
recollect himself, and began in this manner.

VfOPlA.

BOOK II.

THE island of Utopia is in the middle two hundred miles
broad, and holds almost at the same breadth over a great
part of it j but it grows narrower towards both ends. Its
figure is not unlike a crescent : between its horns, the sea
comes in eleven miles broad, and spreads itself into a great
bay, which is environed with land to the compass of about
five hundred miles, and is well secured from winds. In this
bay there is no great current, the whole coast is, as it were,
one continued harbour, which gives all that live in the
island great convenience for mutual commerce ; but the
entry into the bay, occasioned by rocks on the one hand,
and shallows on the other, is very dangerous. In the
middle of it there is one single rock which appears above
water, and may therefore be easily avoided, and on the top of
it there is a tower in which a garrison is kept, the other rocks
lie under water, and are very dangerous. The channel is
known only to the natives, so that if any stranger should
enter into the bay, without one of their pilots, he would run
great danger of shipwreck ; for even they themselves could
not pass it safe, if some marks that are on the coast did not
direct their way ; and if these should be but a little shifted,
any fleet that might come against them, how great soever it
were, would be certainly lost. On the other side of the
island there are likewise many harbours ; and the coast is
so fortified, both by nature and art, that a small number of
men can hinder the descent of a great army. But they
report (and there remains good marks of it to make it
credible) that this was no island at first, but a part of the
continent. Utopus that conquered it (whose name it still
carries, for Abraxa was its first name) brought the rude and
uncivilized inhabitants into such a good government, and
to that measure of politeness, that they now far excel all
the ' rest of mankind; having soon subdued them} he

90 UTOPIA.

designed to separate them from the continent, and to bring
the sea quite round them. To accomplish this, he ordered
a deep channel to be dug fifteen miles long ; and that the
natives might not think he treated them like slaves, he not
only forced the inhabitants, but also his own soldiers, to
labour in carrying it on. As he set a vast number of men
to work, he beyond all men's expectations brought it to a
speedy conclusion. And his neighbours who at first laughed
at the folly of the undertaking, no sooner saw it brought
to perfection, than they were struck with admiration and
terror.

There are fifty- four cities in the island, all large and well
built: the manners, customs, and laws of which are the
same, and they are all contrived as near in the same
manner as the ground on which they stand will allow. The
nearest lie at least twenty-four miles distance from one
another, and the most remote are not so far distant, but
that a man can go on foot in one day from it, to that which
lies next it. Every city sends three of their wisest senators
once a year to Amaurot, to consult about their common
concerns; for that is chief town of the island, being
situated near the centre of it, so that it is the most con-
venient place for their assemblies. The jurisdiction of
every city extends at least twenty miles : and where the
\ towns lie wider, they have much more ground : no town
desires to enlarge its bounds, for the people consider them-
selves rather as tenants than landlords. They have built
over all the country, farmhouses for husbandmen, which are
well contrived, and are furnished ^vith all things necessary
for country labour. Inhabitants are sent by turns from the
cities to dwell in them ; no country family has fewer than
forty men and women in it, besides two slaves. There is a
master and a mistress set over every family ; and over
Uhirty families there is a magistrate. Every year twenty of
(this family come back to the town, after they have stayed

UTOPIA. 91

two years in the country ; and in their room there are other \
twenty sent from the town, that they may learn country \
work from those that have been already one year in the
country, as they must teach those that come to them the
next from the town. By this means such as dwell in
those country farms are never ignorant of agriculture, and so ;
commit no errors, which might otherwise be fatal, and
bring them under a scarcity of corn. But though there is
every year such a shifting of the husbandmen, to prevent
any man being forced against his will to follow that hard
course of life too long ; yet many among them take such
pleasure in it, that they desire leave to continue in it many
years. These husbandmen till the ground, breed cattle,
hew wood, and convey it to the towns, either by land or
water, as is most convenient. They breed an infinite multi-
tude of chickens in a very curious manner ; for the hens
do not sit and hatch them, but vast number of eggs are
laid in a gentle and equal heat, in order to be hatched,
and they are no sooner out of the shell, and able to stir
about, but they seem to consider those that feed them as
their mothers, and follow them as other chickens do the
hen that hatched them. They breed very few horses, but
those they have are full of mettle, and are kept only for
exercising their youth in the art of sitting and riding them ;
for they do not put them to any work, either of ploughing
or carriage, in which they employ oxen ; for though their
horses are stronger, yet they find oxen can hold out longer ;
and as they are not subject to so many diseases, so they are
kept upon a less charge, and with less trouble ; and even
when they are so worn out, that they are no more fit for
labour, they are good meat at last. They sow no corn, but
that which is to be their bread ; for they drink either wine,
cyder, or perry, and often water, sometimes boiled with
honey or liquorice, with which they abound ; and though
they know exactly how much corn will serve every town?

9* UTOPIA.

and all that tract of country whi«h belongs to it, yet the}
sow much more, and breed more cattle than are necessary
for their consumption ; and they give that overplus of which
they make no use to their neighbours. When they want
anything in the country which it does not produce, they
fetch that from the town, without carrying anything in
exchange for it. And the magistrates of the town take care
to see it given them ; for they meet generally in the town
once a month, upon a festival day. When the tims of
harvest comes, the magistrates in the country send to those
in the towns, and let them know how many hands they will
need for reaping the harvest ; and the number they call for
being sent to them, they commonly despatch it all in one
day.

OF THEIR TOWNS, PARTICULARLY OF AMAUROT.

HE that knows one of their towns, knows them all, they are
so like one another, except where the situation makes some
difference. I shall therefore describe one of them ; and none
is so proper as Amaurot ; for as none is more eminent, all
the rest yielding in precedence to this, because it is the seat
of their supreme council ; so there was none of them better
known to me, I having lived five years altogether in it.

It lies upon the side of a hill, or rather a rising ground :
its figure is almost square, for from the one side of it, which
shoots up almost to the top of the hill, it runs down in a
descent for two miles to the river Anider ; but it is a little
broader the other way that runs along by the bank of that
river. The Anider rises about eighty miles above Amaurot
in a small spring at first ; but other brooks falling into it, o*
which two are more considerable than the rest. As it runs by
Amaurot, it is grown half a mile broad ; but it still grows
larger and larger, till after sixty miles course below it, it is
lost in the ocean, between the town and the sea, and for

UTOPIA. 93

some miles above the town, it ebbs and flows every six hours,
with a strong current. The tide comes up for about thirty
miles so full, that there is nothing but salt water in the river,
the fresh water being driven back with its force ; and above
that, for some miles, the water is brackish ; but a little higher,
as it runs by the town, it is quite fresh ; and when the tide
ebbs, it continues fresh all along to the sea. There is a
bridge cast over the river, not of timber, but of fair stone,
consisting of many stately arches ; it lies at that part of the
town which is farthest from the sea, so that ships without
any hindrance lie all along the side of the town. There is
likewise another river that runs by it, which though it is not
great, yet it runs pleasantly, for it rises out of the same hill
on which the town stands, and so runs down through it,
and falls into the Anider. The inhabitants have fortified the
fountain-head of this river, which springs a little without the
towns; that so if they should happen to be besieged, the
enemy might not be able to stop or divert the course of
the water, nor poison it ; from thence it is carried in earthen
pipes to the lower streets ; and for those places of the town
to which the water of that small river cannot be conveyed,
they have great cisterns for receiving the rain-water, which
supplies the want of the other. The town is compassed with
a high and thick wall, in which there are many towers and
forts ; there is also a broad and deep dry ditch, set thick
with thorns, cast round three side* of the town, and the river
is instead of a ditch on the fourth side. The streets are very
convenient for all carriage, and are well sheltered from the
winds. Their buildings are good, and are so uniform, that
a whole side of a street looks like one house. The streets
are twenty feet broad; there lie gardens behind all their
houses ; these are large but enclosed with buildings, that on
all hands face the streets ; so that every house has both a
door to the street, and a back door to the garden. Their
have all two leaves, which, as they are easily opened,

94 UTOPIA.

so they shut of their own accord; and there being no
property among them, every man may freely enter into any
house whatsoever. At every ten years end they shift their
houses by lots. They cultivate their gardens with great care,
so that they have both vines, fruits herbs, and flowers in
them ; and all is so well ordered, and so finely kept, that I
never saw gardens anywhere that were both so fruitful and
so beautiful as theirs. And this humour of ordering their
gardens so well, is not only kept up by the pleasure they find
in it, but also by an emulation between the inhabitants of
the several streets, who vie with each other • and there is
indeed nothing belonging to the whole town that is both
more useful and more pleasant. So that he who founded the
town, seems to have taken care of nothing more than of their
gardens ; for they say, the whole scheme of the town was
designed at first by Utopus, but he left all that belonged to
the ornament and improvement of it, to be added by those
that should come after him, that being too much for one
man to bring to perfection. Their records, that contain the
history of their town and state, are preserved with an exact
care, and run backwards 1,760 years. From these it
appears that their houses wjere at first low and mean, like
cottages, made of any sort of timber, and were built with
mud walls and thatched with straw. But now their houses
are three stones high : the fronts of them are faced either
with stone, plastering, or brick ; and between the facings of
their walls they throw in their rubbish. Their roofs are
flat, and on them they lay a sort of plaster, which costs
very little, and yet is so tempered that it is not apt to take
fire, and yet resists the weather more than lead. They have
great quantities of glass among them, with which they glaze
their windows. They use also in their windows a thin linen
cloth, that is so oiled or gummed that it both keeps out the
wind and gives free admission to the light.

UTOPIA. 95

OF THEIR MAGISTRATES.

THIRTY families choose every year a magistrate, who was an-
ciently called the Syphogrant, but is now called the Philarch ;
and over every ten Syphogrants, with the families subject to
them, there is another magistrate, who was anciently called
the Tranibor, but of late the Archphilarch. All the Sypho-
grants, who are in number 200, choose the Prince out of a
list of four, who are named by the people of the four
divisions of the city; but they take an oath before they
proceed to an election, that they will choose him whom
they think most fit for the office. They give their voices
secretly, so that it is not known for whom every one gives
his suffrage. The Prince is for life, unless he is removed
upon suspicion of some design to enslave the people. The
Tranibors are new chosen every year, but yet they are for
the most part continued. All their other magistrates are
only annual. The Tranibors meet every third day, and
oftener if necessary, and consult with the Prince, either con-
cerning the affairs of the state in general, or such private
differences as may arise sometimes among the people ; though
that falls out but seldom. There are always two Sypho-
grants called into the council-chamber, and these are
changed every day. It is a fundamental rule of their
government, that no conclusion can be made in anything
that relates to the public, till it has been first debated three
several days in their council. It is death for any to meet
and consult concerning the state, unless it be either in their
ordinary council, or in the assembly of the whole body of
the people.

These things have been so provided among them, that
the Prince and the Tranibors may not conspire together to
change the government, and enslave the people ; and there-
fore when anything of great importance is set on foot, it is.

96 UTOPIA.

sent to the Syphogrants ; who after they have communicated
it to the families that belong to their divisions, and have
considered it among themselves, make report to the senate ;
and upon great cccasions. the matter is referred to the
council of the whole island. One rule observed in their
council, is, never to debate a thing on the same day in
which it is first proposed ; for that is always referred to the
next meeting, that so men may not rashly, and in the heat
of discourse, engage themselves too soon, which might bias
them so much, that instead of consulting the good of the
public, they might rather study to support their first opinions,
and by a perverse and preposterous sort of shame, hazard
their country rather than endanger their own reputation, or
venture the being suspected to have wanted foresight in the
expedients that they at first proposed. And therefore to
prevent this, they take care that they may rather be de-
liberate than sudden in their motions.

OF THEIR TRADES, AND MANNER OF LIFE,

AGRICULTURE is that which is so universally understood
among them, that no person, either man or woman, is igno-
rant of it ; they are instructed in it from their childhood,
partly by what they learn at school, and partly by practice ;
they being led out often into the fields, about the town,
where they not only see others at work, but are likewise
exercised in it themselves. Besides agriculture, which is so
common to them all, every man has some peculiar trade to
which he applies himself, such as the manufacture of wool,
or flax, masonry, smith's work, or carpenter's work ; for
there is no sort of trade that is in great esteem among them.
Throughout the island they wear the same sort of clothes
without any other distinction, except what is necessary to
distinguish the two sexes, and the married and unmarried

UTOPIA. 97

The fashion never alters ; and as it is neither disagreeable
nor uneasy, so it is suited to the climate, and calculated
both for their summers and winters. Every family makes
their own clothes; but all among them, women as wc.il
men, learn one or other of the trades formerly mentioned.
Women, for the most part, deal in wool and flax, which suit
best with their weakness, leaving the ruder trades to the
men. The same trade generally passes down from father I
to son, inclinations often following descent ; but if any ;
man's genius lies another way, he is by adoption translated [
into a family that. deals in the trade to which he is inclined :
and when that is to be done, care is taken not only by his ,
father, but by the magistrate, that he may be put to a i
discreet and good man. And if after a person has learned
one trade, he desires to acquire another, that is also allowed,
and is managed in the same manner as the former. When
he has learned both, he follows that which he likes best, '
unless the public has more occasion for the other.

The chief, and almost the only business of the Sypho-
grants, is to take care that no man may live idle, but that
every one may follow his trade diligently: yet they do not wear
themselves ,out with perpetual toil, from morning to night,
as if they were beasts of burden, which as it is indeed a
heavy slavery, so it is everywhere the common course of
life amongst all mechanics except the Utopians ; but they '
dividing the day and night into twenty-four hours, appoint j
six of these for work ; three of which are before dinner ;
and three after. They then sup, and at eight o'clock, counting
from noon, go to bed and sleep eight hours. The rest of
their time besides that taken up in work, eating and sleeping, ;
is left to every man's discretion ; yet they are not to abuse
that interval to luxury and idleness, but must employ it in I
some proper exercise according to their various inclinations, I
which is for the most part reading. It is ordinary to have ;
public lectures every morning before daybreak ; at which

B

98 UTOPIA.

none are obliged to appear but those who are marked out
for literature ; yet a great many, both men and women of
all ranks, go to hear lectures of one sort or other, according
to their inclinations. But if others, that are not made for
contemplation, choose rather to employ themselves at that
time in their trades, as many of them do, they are not
hindered, but are rather commended, as men that take care
to serve their country. After supper, they spend an hour
in some diversion, in summer in their gardens, and in winter
in the halls where they eat; where they entertain each
other, either with music or discourse. They do not so
much as know dice, or any such foolish and mischievous
games : they have, however, two sorts of games not unlike
our chess ; the one is between several numbers, in which
one number, as it were, consumes another : the other resem-
bles a battle between the virtues and the vices, in which the
enmity in the vices among themselves, and their agreement
against virtue, is not unpleasantly represented ; together
with the special oppositions between the particular virtues
and vices ; as also the methods by which vice either openly
assaults or secretly undermines virtue ; and virtue on the <
other hand resists it. But the time appointed for labour
is to be narrowly examined, otherwise you may imagine,
that since there are only six hours appointed for work, they
may fall under a scarcity of necessary provisions. But it is
so far from being true, that this time is not sufficient for
supplying them with plenty of all things, either necessary or
convenient ; that it is rather too much ; and this you will
easily apprehend, if you consider how gr-at a part of all
other nations is quite idle. First, women generally do little,
who are the half of mankind ; and if some few women are
diligent, their husbands are idle : then consider the great
company of idle priests, and of those that are called religious
I men ;> add to these all rich men, chiefly those that have
i estates in land, who are called noblemen and gentlemen,

UTOPIA. 99

together with their families, made up of idle persons, that
are kept more for show than use; add to these, all those
strong and lusty beggars, that go about pretending some
disease, in excuse for their begging; and upon the whole
account you will find that the number of those by whose
labours mankind is supplied, is much less than you perhaps
imagined. Then consider how few of those that work are
employed in labours that are of real service ; for we who
measure all things by money, give rise to many trades that
are both vain and superfluous, and serve only to support
riot and luxury. For if those who work were employed
only in such things as the conveniences of life require, there
would be such an abundance of them, that the prices of
them would so sink, that tradesmen could not be maintained
by their gains; if all those who labour about useless things,
were set to more profitable employments, and if all they
that languish out their lives in sloth and idleness, every one
of whom consumes as much as any two of the men that are
at work, were forced to labour, you may easily imagine that
a small proportion of time would serve for doing all that is
either necessary, profitable, or pleasant to mankind, espe-
cially while pleasure is kept within its due bounds. This
appears very plainly in Utopia, for there, in a great city,
and in all the territory that lies round it, you can scarce
find five hundred, either men or women, by their age and
strength, are capable of labour, that are not engaged in it ;
even the Syphogrants, though excused by the law, yet de
not excuse themselves, but work, that by their examples
they may excite the industry of the rest of the people. Th?
like exemption is allowed to those, who being recommended
to the people by the priests, are by the secret suffrages of
the Syphogrants privileged from labour, that they may apply
themselves wholly to study ; and if any of these fall short
of those hopes that they seemed at first to give, they are
obliged to return to work. And sometimes a mechanic,

D 2

loo UTOPIA.

\

| that so employs his leisure hours, as to make a considerable

I advancement in learning, is eased from being a tradesman,

• and ranked among their learned men. Out of these they

choose th_ir ambassadors, their priests, their Tranibors, and

the Prince himself ; anciently called their Barzenes, but is

called of late their Ademus.

And thus from the great numbers among them that are
neither suffered to be idle, nor to be employed in any fruit
less labour, you may easily make the estimate how much
may be done in those few hours in which they are obliged to
labour But besides all that has been already said, it is to
be considered that the needful arts among them are
managed with less labour than anywhere else. The build-
ing or the repairing of houses among us employ many hands,
because often a thriftless heir suffers a house that his father
built to fall into decay, so that his successor must, at a great
cost, repair that which he might have kept up with a small
charge : it frequently happens, that the same house which
one person built at a vast expense, is neglected by another,
who thinks he has a more delicate sense of the beauties of
architecture ; and he suffering it to fall to ruin, builds another
at no less charge. But among the Utopians, all things are
so regulated that men very seldom build upon a new piece
of ground ; and are not only very quick in repairing their
houses, but show their foresight in preventing their decay :
so that their buildings are preserved very long, with but
little labour ; and thus the builders to whom that care belongs
are often without employment, except the hewing of timber,
and the squaring of stones, that the materials may be in
readiness for raising a building very suddenly, when there
is any occasion for it. As to their clothes, observe how
little work is spent in them while they are ai; labour, they
are clothed with leather and skins, cast carelessly about
them, which will last seven years ; and when they appear in
puL-ik ti.-.-y put on an upper ^aiincnt, winch i..-.lv- '^-^ v/i.'ju';

'UTOPIA. tar

and these are all of one' colour, and that is ihe natural colour
of the wool. As they need less woollen cloth than is used
anywhere else, so that which they make use of is much less
costly. They use linen cloth more ; but that is prepared
with less labour, and they value cloth only by the whiteness
of the linen, or the cleanness of the wooi, without much regard
to the fineness of the thread : while m other places, four or
five upper garments of woollen cloth, of different colours,
and as many vests of silk, will scarce serve one man ; and
while those that are nicer think ten too few, every man
there is content with one, which very often serves him two
years. " Nor is there anything that can tempt a~ man to de-
sire more; for if he had them, he would neither be the warmer,
nor would he make one jot the better appearance for it. And
thus, since they are all employed in some useful labour, and
since they content themselves with fewer things, it falls out
that there is a great abundance of all things among them :
so that it frequently happens, that for want of other work,
vast numbers are sent out to mend the highways. But when
no public undertaking is to be performed, the hours of work-
ing are lessened. The magistrates never engage the people
in unnecessary labour, since the chief end of the constitution
is to regulate labour by the necessities of the public, and to
allow all the people as much time as is necessary for the im-
provement of their minds, in which they think the happiness
\{ life consists.

OF THEIR TRAFFIC.

BUT it is now time to explain to you the mutual inter-
course of this people, their commerce, and the rules by which
all things are distributed among them.

As their cities are composed of families, so their families
are made up of those that are nearly related to one another-
Their women, when they grow up, are married out ; but all

,02 UTOPIA.

the males, both children and grandchildren, live still in the
same house, in great obedience to their common parent,
unless age has weakened his understanding ; and in that case,
he that is next to him in age comes in his room. But lest
any city should become either too great, or by any accident
be dispeopled, provision is made that none of their cities
may contain above six thousand families, besides those of
the country round it. No family may have less than ten,
and mote than sixteen persons in it; but there can be no
determined number for the children under age. This rule is
easily observed, by removing some of the children of a more
fruitful couple to any other family that does not abound so
much in them. By the same rule, they supply cities that do
not increase so fast, from others that breed faster ; and if
there is any increase over the whole island, then they draw
out a number of their citizens out of the several towns, and
send them over to the neighbouring continent ; where, if they
find that the inhabitants have more soil than they can well
cultivate, they fix a colony, taking the inhabitants into their
society, if they are willing to live with them ; and where they
do that of their own accord, they quickly enter into their
method of life, and conform to their rules, and this proves a
happiness to both nations : for according to their constitu-
tion, such care is taken of the soil, that it becomes fruitful
enough for both, though it might be otherwise too narrow
and barren for any one of them. But if the natives refuse to
conform themselves to their laws, they drive them out of
those bounds which they mark out for themselves, and use
force if they resist. For they account it a very just cause of
war, for a nation to hinder others from possessing a part of
that soil, of which they make no use, but which is suffered
to lie idle and uncultivated ; since every man has by the
law of Nature a right to such a waste portion of the earth as
is necessary for his subsistence. If an accident has so
lessened the number of the inhabitants of any of their towns,

UTOPIA. 103

that it cannot be made up from the other towns of the island,
without diminishing them too much, which is said to have
fallen out but twice since they were first a people, when
great numbers were carried off by the plague ; the loss is
then supplied by recalling as many as are wanted from their
colonies ; for they will abandon these, rather than suffer the
towns in the island to sink too low.

But to return to their manner of living in society, the
oldest man of every family, as has been already said, is its
governor. Wives serve their husbands, and children their
parents, and always the younger serves the elder. Every
city is divided into four equal parts, and in the middle of
each there is a market-place : what is brought thither, and
manufactured bf the several families, is carried from thence
to houses appointed for that purpose, in which all things of
a sort are laid by themselves ; and thither every father goes
and takes whatsoever he or his family stand in need of,
without either paying for it, or leaving anything in exchange.
There is no reason for giving a denial to any person, since
there is such plenty of everything among them ; and there
is no danger of a man's asking for more than he needs ;
they have no inducements to do this, since they are sure
that they shall always be supplied. It is the fear of want that
makes any of the whole race of animals either greedy or
ravenous ; but besides fear, there is in man a pride that
makes him fancy it a particular glory to excel others in
pomp and excess. But by the laws of the Utopians, there
is no room for this. Near these markets there are others
for all sorts of provisions, where there are not only herbs,
fruits, and bread, but also fish, fowl, and cattle. There are
also, without their towns, places appointed near some
running water, for killing their beasts, and for washing away
their filth ; which is done by their slaves : for they suffer
none of their citizens to kill their cattle, because they think
Uiat pity a-nd good-nature, which are among the best of

104 VTOPIA.

those affections that are born with us, are much impaired
by the butchering of animals : nor do they suffer anything
that is foul or unclean to be brought within their towns, lest
the air should be infected by ill smells which might pre-
judice their health. In every street there are great halls
that lie at an equal distance from each other, distinguished
by particular names. The Syphogrants dwell in those that
are set over thirty families, fifteen lying on one side of it,
and as many on the other. In these rialls they all meet
and have their repasts. The stewards of every one of then?
come to the market-place at an appointed hour ; and ac*
cording to the number of those that belong to the hall, they
carry home provisions. But they take more care of their
sick than of any others : these" are lodged and provided
for in public hospitals : they have belonging to every town
four hospitals, that are built without their walls, and are so
large that they may pass for little towns : by this means, if
they had ever such a number of sick persons, they could
lodge them conveniently, and at such a distance, that such
of them as are sick of infectious diseases may be kept so
far from the rest that there can be no danger of contagion.
The hospitals are furnished and stored with all things that
are convenient for the ease and recovery of the sick ; and
those that are put in them are looked after with such
tendei and watchful care, and are so constantly attended by
their skilful physicians, that as none is sent to them against
their will, so there is scarce one in a whole town that, if he
should fall ill, would not choose rather to go thither than
lie sick at home.

After the steward of the hospitals has taken for the sick
whatsoever the physician prescribes, then the best things
that are left in the market are distributed equally among
the halls, in proportion to their numbers, only, in the first
place, they serve the Prince, the chief priest, the Tranibors,
the ambassadors, and, strangers, if there are any. which

UTOPIA. tog

indeed falls out but seldom, and for whom there are hou«c?
well furnished, particularly appointed for their reception
when they come amonqj them. At the hours of dinner and
supper, the whole Syphogranty being called together by
sound of trumpet, they meet and eat together, except only
such as are in the hospitals, or lie sick at home. Yet after
the halls are served, no man is hindered to carry provisions
home from the market-place • for they know that none
does that but for some good reason ; for though any that
will may eat at home, yet "hone does it willingly, since it is
both ridiculous and foolish for any to give themselves the
trouble to make ready an ill dinner at home, when there is
a much more plentiful one made ready for him so near
hand. All the 'uneasy and sordid services about these halls
are performed by their slaves ; but the dressing and cooking
their meat, and the ordering their tables, belong only to
the women, all those of every family taking it, by turns.
They sit at three or more tables, according to their number j
the men sit towards the wall, and the women sit on the
other side, that if any of them should be taken suddenly ill,
which is no uncommon case amongst women with child, she
may, without disturbing the rest, rise and go to the nurse's
room, who are there with the sucking children ; where
there is always clean water at hand, and cradles in which
they may lay the young children, if there is occasion for it,
and a fire that they may shift and dress them before it.
Every child is nursed by its own mother, if death or sick-
ness does not intervene; and in that case the Sypho-
grants' wives find out a nurse quickly, which is no hard
matter; for any one that can do it, offers herself cheer-
fully j for as they are much inclined to that piece of mercy,
so the child whom they nurse considers the nurse as its
mother. All the children under five years old sit among
the nurses, the rest of the younger sort of both sexes, till
they are fit for marriage, either serve those that sit at table ;

or if they are not strong enough for that, stand by them in
great silence, and eat what is given them ; nor have they
any other formality of dining. In the middle of the first
table, which stands across the upper end of the hall, sit the
Syphogrant and his wife ; for that is the chief and most con-
spicuous place ; next to him sit two of the most ancient, for
there go always four to a mess. If there is a temple within
that Syphogranty, the priest and his wife sit with the Sypho-
grant above all the rest : next them there is a mixture of
old and young, who are so placed, that as the young are
, set near others, so they are mixed with the more ancient;
which they say was appointed on this account, that the
gravity of the old people, and the reverence that is due to
them, might restrain the younger from all indecent words
and gestures. Dishes are not served up to the whole table
at first, but the best are first set before the old, whose seats
are distinguished from the young, and after them all the rest
are served alike. The old men distribute to the younger
any curious meats that happen to be set before them, if
there is not such an abundance of them that the whole
company may be served alike.

Thus old men are honoured with a particular respect ; yet
all the rest fare as well as they. Both dinner and supper
are begun with some lecture of morality that is read to them ;
but it is so short, that it is not tedious nor uneasy to them
to hear it : from hence the old men take occasion to enter-
tain those about them, with some useful and pleasant en-
largements ; but they do not engross the whole discourse so
to themselves, during their meals, that the younger may not
put in for a share : on the contrary, they engage them to
talk, that so they may in that free way of conversation find
out the force of every one's spirit, and observe his temper.
They despatch their dinners quickly, but sit long at supper ;
because they go to work after the one, and are to sleep after
the other, during which they think the stomach carries on

VTOPIA. to?

the concoction more vigorously. They never sup without
music ; and there is always fruit served up after meat ; while
they are at table, some burn perfumes, and sprinkle about
fragrant ointments and sweet waters : in short, they want
nothing that may cheer up their spirits : they give themselves
a large allowance that way, and indulge themselves in all
such pleasures as are attended with no inconvenience.
Thus do those that are in the towns live together ; but in
the country, where they live at great distance, every one
eats at home, and no family wants any necessary sort of
provision, for it is from them that provisions are sent unto
those that live in the towns.

OF THE TRAVELLING OF THE UTOPIANS.

IF any man has a mind to visit his friends that live in some
other town, or desires to travel and see the rest of the
country, he obtains leave very easily from the Syphogrant
and Tranibors, when there is no particular occasion for kim
at home : such as travel, carry with them a passport from
the Prince, which both certifies the license that is granted
for travelling, and limits the time of their return. They are
furnished with a waggon and a slave, who drives the oxen,
and looks after them : but unless there are women in the
company, the waggon is sent back at the end of the journey
as a needless encumbrance : w.hile they are on the road,
they carry no provisions with them ; yet they want nothing,
but are everywhere treated as if they were at home. If they
stay in any place longer than a night, every one follows his
proper occupation, and is very well used by those of his own
trade : but if any man goes out of the city to which he
belongs, without leave, and is found rambling without a
passport, he is severely treated, he is punished as a fugitive,
and sent home disgracefully \ and if he falls again into the

io3 UTOPIA.

like fault, is condemned to slavery. If any man has a mind
to travel only over the precinct of his own city, he may freelj
do it, with his father's permission and his wife's consent ;
but when he comes into any of the country houses, if he
expects to be entertained by them, he must labour with
them and conform to their rules : and if he does this, he
may freely go over the whole precinct ; being thus as useful
to the city to which he belongs, as if he were still within it.
Thus you see t) at there are no idle persons among them,
nor pretences of excusing any from labour. There are no
taverns, no alehouses nor stews among them ; nor any other
occasions of corrupting each other, of getting into corners,
or forming themselves into parties : all men live iu full view,
so thai all are obliged, both to perform their ordinar) task, and
to employ themselves well in their spare hours. And it is
certain that a people thus ordered must live in great abund-
ance of all things ; and these being equally distributed among
them, no man can want, or be obliged to beg.

In their great council at Amaurot, to which there are
three sent from every town once a year, they examine what
towns abound in provisions, and what are under any scarcity,
that so the one may be furnished from the other ; and this
is done freely, without any sort of exchange ; for according
to their plenty or scarcity, they supply, or are supplied from
one another ; so that indeed the whole island is, as it were,
one family. When they have thus taken care of their whole
country, and laid up stores for two years, which they do to
prevent the ill consequences of an unfavourable season, they
order an exportation of the overplus, both of corn, honey,
wool, flax, wood, wax, tallow, leather, and cattle ; which they
send out commonly in great quantities to other nations
They order a seventh part of all these goods to be freely
given to the poor of the countries to which they send them,
and sell the rest at moderate rates And by this exchange,
they not only bring back those few things that they need

UTOPIA. 109

at home (for indeed they scarce need anything but iron),
but likewise a great deal of gold and silver ; and by their
driving this trade so long, it is not to be imagined how
vast a treasure they have got among them : so that now
they do not much care whether they sell off their merchan-
dise for money in hand, or upon trust. A great part of
their treasure is now in bonds ; but in all their contracts no
private man stands bound, but the writing runs in the name
of the town ; and the towns that owe them money, raise it
from those private hands that owe it to them, lay it up in
their public chamber, or enjoy the profit of it till the Utopians
call for it; and' they choose rather to let the greatest part of
it lie in their hands who make advantage by it, than to call
for it themselves : but if they see that any of their other
neighbours stand more in need of it, then they call it in and
lend it to them : whenever they are engaged in war, which is
the only occasion in which their treasure can be usefully em-
ployed, they make use of it themselves. In great extremities
or sudden accidents they employ it in hiring foreign troops,
whom they more willingly expose to danger than their own
people : they give them great pay, knowing well that this
will work even on their enemies, that it will engage them
either to betray their own side, or at least to desert it, and
th ;t it is the best means of raising mutual jealousies among
them : for this end they have an incredible treasure ; but
they do not keep it as a treasure, but in such a manner as I
am almost afraid to tell, lest you think it so extravagant, as
to be hardly credible. This I have the more reason to ap-
prehend, because if I had not seen it myself, I could not
have been easily persuaded to have believed it upon any
man's report.

It is certain that all things appear incredible to us, in
proportion as they differ from own customs. But one who
cnn jnd^e aright, will not wonder to fi; d. that since their
constitution differs so much from ourst their value of gold

no UTOPIA.

and bilver should be measured by a very different standard ;
for since they have no use for money among them-
selves, but keep it as a provision against events which
seldom happen, and between which there are generally long
intervening intervals; they value it no farther than it
deserves, that is, in proportion to its use. So that it is
plain, they must prefer iron either to gold or silver : for
men can no more live without iron, than without fire or
water; but Nature has marked out no use for the other
metals, so essential as not easily to be dispensed with. The
folly of men has enhanced the value of gold and silver,
because of their scarcity. Whereas, on the contrary, it is
their opinion that Nature, as an indulgent parent, has freely
given us all the best things in great abundance, such as
water and earth, but has laid up and hid from us the things
that are vain and useless.

If these metals were laid up in any tower in the kingdom,
it would raise a jealousy of the Prince and Senate, and give
birth to that foolish mistrust into which the people are apt
to fall, a jealousy of their intending to sacrifice the interest
of the public to their own private advantage. If they
should work it into vessels, or any sort of plate, they fear
that the people might grow too fond of it, and so be
unwilling to let the plate be run down, if a war made it
necessary to employ it in paying their soldiers. To prevent
all these inconveniences, they have fallen upon an ex-
pedient, which as it agrees with their other policy, so is it
very different from ours, and will scarce gain belief among
us, who value gold so much, and lay it up so carefully.
They eat and drink out of vessels of earth, or glass, which
make an agreeable appearance though formed of brittle
materials : while they make their chamber-pots and close-
stools of gold and silver ; and that not only in their public
halls, but in their private houses : of the same metals they
likewise make chains and fetters for their slaves ; to some

UTOPIA. HT

of which, as a badge of infamy, they hang an ear-ring of
gold, and make others wear a chain or a coronet of the
same metal ; and thus they take care, by all possible means,
to render gold and silver of no esteem. And from hence it
is, that while other nations part with their gold and silver,
as unwillingly as if one tore out their bowels, those of'
Utopia would look on their giving in all they possess of
those (metals, when there were any use for them) but as the
parting with a trifle, or as we would esteem the loss of a
penny. They find pearls on their coast; and diamonds)
and carbuncles on their rocks; they do not look afteij
them, but if they find them by chance, they polish thei
and with them they adorn their children, who are delightc
with them, and glory in them during their childhood ; bi
when they grow to years, and see that none but childre
use such baubles, they of their own accord, without beii
bid by their parents, lay them aside; and would be
much ashamed to use them afterwards, as children amoi
us, when they come to years, are of their puppets and oth<
toys.

I never saw a clearer instance of the opposite impres-
sions that different customs make on people, than I
observed in the ambassadors of the Anemolians, who came
to Amaurot when I was there. As they came to treat of
affairs of great consequence, the deputies from several towns
met together to wait for their coming. The ambassadors of
the nations that lie near Utopia, knowing their customs,
and that fine clothes are in no esteem among them, that
silk is despised, and gold is a badge of infamy, use to come
very modestly clothed; but the Anemolians lying more
remote, and having had little commerce with them, under-
standing that they were coarsely clothed, and all in the
same manner, took it for granted that they had none of
those fine things among them of which they made no use ;
and they being a vain-glorious rather than a wise people,

112 UTOPIA.

resolved to set themselves out with so much pomp, that
they should look like gods, and strike the eyes of the poor
Utopians with their splendour. Thus three ambassadors
/nade their entry with an hundred attendants, all clad in
garments of different colours, and the greater part in silk ;
the ambassadors themselves, who were of the nobility ot
their country, were in cloth of gold, and adorned with
massy chains, ear-rings and rings of gold : their caps were
covered with bracelets set full of pearls and other gems : in
a word, they were set out with all those things that, among
the Utopians, were either the badges of slavery, the marks
of infamy, or the playthings of children. It was not
unpleasant to see, on the one side, how they looked big,
when they compared their rich habits with the plain clothes
of the Utopians, who were come out in great numbers to
see them make their entry : and, on the other, to observe
how much they were mistaken in the impression which
they hoped this pomp would have made on them. It
appeared so ridiculous a show to all that had never stirred
out of their country, and had not seen the customs of other
nations, that though they paid some reverence to those
that were the most meanly dad, as if they had been the
ambassadors, yet when they saw the ambassadors them-
selves, so full of gold and chains, they looked upon them
as slaves, and forbore to treat them with reverence. You
might have seen the children, who were grown bi'j enough
to despise their playthings, and who had thrown away
dieir jewels, call to their mothers, push them gently, and
cry out, " See that great fool that wears pearls and gems, as
if he were yet a child." While their mothers very inno-
cently replied, " Hold your peace, this I believe is one of
the ambassador's fools." Others censured the fashion of
their chains, and observed that they were of no use ; for
they were too slight to bind their slaves, who cor-kl easily
them .; and besides hung so loose about them, that

UTOPIA. 113

they thought it easy to throw them away, and so get from
them. But after the ambassadors had stayed a day among
them, and saw so vast a quantity of gold in their houses, which
was as much despised by them as it was esteemed in other
nations, and beheld more gold and silver in the chains and
fetters of one slave than all their ornaments amounted to,
their plumes fell, and they were ashamed of all that glory
for which they had formerly valued themselves, and accord-
ingly laid it aside ; a resolution that they immediately took,
when on their engaging in some free discourse with the
Utopians, they discovered their sense of such things and
their other customs. The Utopians wonder how any man
should be so much taken with the glaring doubtful lustre of
a jewel or a stone, that can look up to a star, or to the sun
himself; or how any should value himself because his cloth
is made of a finer thread : for how fine soever that thread
may be, it was once no better than the fleece of a sheep,
and that sheep was a sheep still for all its wearing it. They
wonder much to hear that gold which in itself is so useless a
thing, should be everywhere so much esteemed, that even men
for whom it was made, and by whom it has its value, should
yet be thought of less value than this metal. That a man of
lead, who has no more sense than a log of wood, and is as bad
as he is foolish, should have many wise and good men to
serve him, only because he has a great heap of that metal ;
and that if it should happen that by some accident or trick of
law (which sometimes produces as great changes as chance
itself) all this wealth should pass from the .master to the
meanest varlet of his whole family, he himself would very
soon become one of his servants, as if he were a thing that
belonged to his wealth, and so were bound to follow itt
fortune. But they much more admire and detest the folly
of those who when they see a rich man, though they neither
owe him anything, nor are in any sort dependent on his
bounty, yet merely because he is rich give him little le,ss

Yi4 UTOPIA.

than divine honours ; even though they know him to be so
covetous and base-minded, that notwithstanding all his
wealth, he will not part with one farthing of it to them as
long as he lives.

These and such like notions has that people imbibed,
partly from their education, being bred in a country whose
customs and laws are opposite to all such foolish maxims,
and partly from their learning and studies ; for though there
are but few in any town that are so wholly excused from
labour as to give themselves entirely up to their studies,
these being only such persons as discover from their child-
hood an extraordinary capacity and disposition for letters ;
yet their children, and a great part of the nation, both men
and women, are taught to spend those hours in which they
are not obliged to work^n reading : and this they do through
the whole progress of life. They have all their learning in
their own tongue, which is both a copious and pleasant lan-
guage, and in which a man can fully express his mind. It
runs over a great tract of many countries, but it is not equally
pure in all places. They had never so much as heard of the
names of any of those philosophers that are so famous in
these parts of the world, before we went among them ; and
yet they had made the same discoveries as ihe Greeks, both in
music, logic, arithmetic, and geometry. But as they are almost
in everything equal to the ancient philosophers, so they far
exceed our modem logicians ; for they have never yet fallen
upon the barbarous niceties that our youth are forced to
learn in those trifling logical schools that are among us ; they
are so far from minding chimeras, and fantastical images
made in the mind, that none of them could comprehend
what we meant when we talked to them of a man in the
abstract, as common to all men in particular (so that though
we spoke of him as a thing that we could point at with our
fingers, yet none of them could perceive him), and yet dis-
tinct from eveiy one, as if he were some monstrous Colossus

UTOPIA. 115

or giant. Yet for all this ignorance of these empty notions,
they knew astronomy, and were perfectly acquainted with
the motions of the heavenly bodies, and have many instru-
ments, well contrived and divided, by which they very
accurately compute the course and positions of the sun,
moon, and stars. But for the cheat, of divining by the stars
by their oppositions or conjunctions, it has not so much as
entered into their thoughts. They have a particular sagacity,
founded upon much observation, in judging of the weather,
by which they know when they may look for rain, wind, or
other alterations in the air ; but as to the philosophy of these
things, the causes of the saltness of the sea, of its ebbing
and flowing, and of the original and nature both of the
heavens and the earth ; they dispute of them, partly as our
ancient philosophers have done, and partly upon some new
hypothesis, in which, as they differ from them, so they do
not in all things agree among themselves.

As to moral philosophy, they have the same disputes
among them as we have here : they examine what are
properly good both for the body and the mind, and whether
any outward thing can be called truly good, or if that term
belong only to the endowments of the soul. They inquire
likewise into the nature of virtue and pleasure ; but their
chief dispute is concerning the happiness of a man, and
wherein it consists ? Whether in some one thing, or in a
great many? They seem, indeed, more inclinable to that
opinion that places, if not the whole, yet the chief part of a
man's happiness in pleasure; and, what may seem more
strange, they make use of arguments even from religion,
notwithstanding its severity and roughness, for the support
of that opinion so indulgent to pleasure ; for they never dis-
pute concerning happiness without fetching some arguments
from the principles of religion, as well as from natural reason,
since without the former they reckon that all -our inquiries
a/ter happiness must be but conjectural and defective-

n6 UTOPIA.

These are their religions principles, that the soul of man
is immortal, and that God of His goodness has designed
that it should be happy; and that He has therefore ap-
pointed rewards for good and virtuous actions, and punish-
ments for vice, to be distributed after this life. Though
these principles of religion are conveyed down among them
by tradition, they think that even reason itself determines a
man to believe and acknowledge them, and freely confess
that if these were taken away no man would be so insensible
as not to seek after pleasure by all possible means, lawful or
unlawful ; using only this caution, that a lesser pleasure might
not stand in the way of a greater, and that no pleasure ought
to be pursued that should draw a great deal of pain after it ;
for they think it the maddest thing in the world to pursue
virtue, that is a sour and difficult thing ; and not only to
renounce the pleasures of life, but willingly to undergo much
pain and trouble, if a man has no prospect of a reward. And
what reward can there be for one that has passed his whole
life, not only without pleasure, but in pain, if there is nothing
to be expected 'after death? Yet they do not place happi-
ness in all sorts of pleasures, but only in those that in them-
selves are good and honest. There is a party among them
who place happiness in bare virtue ; others think that our
natures are conducted by virtue to happiness, as that which
is the chief good of man. They define virtue thus, that it
is a living according to Nature, and think that we are made
by God for that end ; they believe that a man then follows
the dictates of Nature when he pursues or avoids things
according to the direction of reason ; they say that the first
dictate of reason is the kindling in us a love and reverence
for the Divine Majesty, to whom we owe both all that we
have, and all that we can ever hope for. In the next place,
reason directs us to keep our minds as free from passion and
as cheerful as we can, and that we should consider ourselves
as bound by the ties of good-nature and humanity to use

VTOPIA. ill

our utmost endeavours to help forward the happiness of all
other persons ; for there never was any man such a morose
and severe pursuer of virtue, such an enemy to pleasure, that
though he set hard rules for men to undergo much pain,
many watchings, and other rigours, yet did not at the same
time advise them to do all they could, in order to relieve
and ease the miserable, and who did not represent gentle-
ness and good-nature as amiable dispositions. And from
thence they infer that if a man ought to advance the welfare
and comfort of the rest of mankind, there being no virtue
more proper and peculiar to our nature, than to ease the
miseries of others, to free from trouble and anxiety, in fur-
nishing them with the comforts of life, in which pleasure
consists, Nature much more vigorously leads them to do
all this for himself. A life of pleasure is either a real evil,
and in that case we ought not to assist others in their pursuit
of it, but on the contrary, to keep them from it all we can,
as from that which is most hurtful and deadly ; or if it is a
good thing, so that we not only may, but ought to help
others to it, why then ought not a man to begin with him-
self ? Since no man can be more bound to look after the
good of another than after his own; for Nature cannot
direct us to be good and kind to others, and yet at the
same time to be unmerciful and cruel to ourselves, Thus,
as they define virtue to be living according to Nature, so
they imagine that Nature prompts all people on to seek after
pleasure, as the end of all they do. They also observe that
in order to our supporting the pleasures of life, Nature in-
clines us to enter into society ; for there is no man so much
raised above the rest of mankind as to be the only favourite
of Nature, who, on the contrary, seems to have placed on a
level all those that belong to the same species. Upon this
they infer that no man ought to seek his own conveniences
so eagerly as to prejudice others ; and therefore they think
that not only all agreements between private persons ought

n8 -UTOPIA.

to be observed ; but likewise that all those laws ought to be
kept, which either a good prince has published in due form,
or to which a people, that is neither oppressed with tyranny
nor circumvented by fraud, has consented, for distributing
those conveniences of life which afford us all our pleasures.

They think it is an evidence of true wisdom for a man
to pursue his own advantages, as far as the laws allow it.
They account it piety to prefer the public good to one's
private concerns ; but they think it unjust for a man to
seek for pleasure, by snatching another man's pleasures
from him. And on the contrary, they think it a sign of a
gentle and good soul, for a man to dispense with his own
advantage for the good of others ; and that by this means
a good man finds as much pleasure one way, as he parts
with another ; for as he may expect the like from others
when he may come to need it, so if that should fail him,
yet the sense of a good action, and the reflections that he
makes on the love and gratitude of those whom he has so
obliged, gives the mind more pleasure than the body could
have found in that from which it had restrained itself. Tl>cy
are also persuaded that God will make up the loss of those
small pleasures, with a vast and endless joy, of which
religion easily convinces a good soul.

Thus upon an inquiry into the whole matter, they reckon
that all our actions, and even all our virtues, terminate in
pleasure, as in our chief end and greatest happiness ; and
they call every motion or state, either of body or mind, in
which Nature teaches us to delight, a pleasure. Thus they
cautiously limit pleasure only to those appetites to which
Nature leads us ; for they say that Nature leads us only to
those delights to which reason as well as sense carries us,
and by which we neither injure any other person, nor lose
the possession of greater pleasures, and of such as draw no
troubles after them; but they look upon those delights
which men by a foolish, though common, mistake call

VTOPIA. 119

pleasure, as if they could change as easily the nature of
things as the use of words ; as things that greatly obstruct
their real happiness, instead of advancing it, because they
so entirely possess the minds of those that are once capti-
vated by them with a false notion of pleasure, that there is
no room left for pleasures of a truer or purer kind.

There are many things that in themselves have nothing
that is truly delightful ; on the contrary, they have a good
deal of bitterness in them : and yet from our perverse
appetites after forbidden objects, are not only ranked
among the pleasures, but" are made even the greatest designs
of life. Among those who pursue these sophisticated plea-
sures, they reckon such as I mentioned before, who think
themselves really the better for having fine clothes j in
which they think they are doubly mistaken, both in the
opinion that they have of their clothes, and in that they have
of themselves ; for if you consider the use of clothes, why
should a fine thread be thought better than a course one?
And yet these men, as if they had some real advantages
beyond others, and did not owe them wholly to their mis-
takes, look big, seem to fancy themselves to be more
valuable, and imagine that a respect is due to them for the
sake of a rich garment, to which they would not have pre-
tended if they had been more meanly clothed ; and .even
resent it as an affront, if that respect is not paid them. It
is also a great folly to be taken with outward marks of
respect, which signify nothing : for what true or real plea-
sure can one man find in another's standing bare, or making
legs to him ? Will the bending another man's knees give
ease to yours? And will the head's being bare cure the
madness of yours ? And yet it is wonderful to see how
this false notion of pleasure bewitches many who delight
themselves with the fancy of their nobility, and are pleased
with this conceit, that they are descended from ancestors,
who have been held for some successions 'rich., and who

120 UTOPIA.

have had great possessions ; for this is all that makes
nobility at present ; yet they do not think themselves a
whit the less noble, though their immediate parents have
left none of this wealth to them, or though they themselves
have squandered it away. The Utopians have no better
opinion of those who are much taken with gems and pre-
cious stones, and who account it a degree of happiness,
next to a divine one, if they can purchase one that is very
extraordinary ; especially if it be of that sort of stones that
is then in greatest request ; for the same sort is not at all
times universally of the same value ; nor will men buy it
unless it be dismounted and taken out of the gold ; the
jeweller is then made to give good security, and required
solemnly to swear that the stone is true, that by such an
exact caution a false one might not be bought instead of a
true : though if you were to examine it, your eye could find
no difference between the counterfeit and that which is
true ; so that they are all one to you as much as if you were
blind. Or can it be thought that they who heap up an use-
less'mass of wealth, not for any use that it is to bring them,
but merely to please themselves with the contemplation of
it, enjoy any true pleasure in it ? The delight they find is
only a false shadow of joy. Those are no better whose error
is somewhat different from the former, aud who hide it, out
of their fear of losing it ; for what other name can fit the
hiding it in the earth, or rather the restoring it to it again, it
being thus cut off from being useful, either to its owner or
to the rest of mankind ? And yet the owner having hid it
carefully, is glad, because he thinks he is now sure of it.
If it should be stole, the owner, though he might live per-
haps ten years after the theft, of which he knew nothing,
would find no difference between his having or losing it ;
for both ways it was equally useless to him.

Among those foolish pursuers of pleasure, they reckon all
that delight in hunting, in fowling, or gaming : of whose

Iff OP i A. m

madness they have only heard, for they have no such things
among them. But they have asked us, what sort of
pleasure is it that men can find in throwing the dice? For
if there were any pleasure in it, they think the doing of it so
often should give one a surfeit of it : and what pleasure can
one find in hearing the barking and howling of dogs, which
seem rather odious than pleasant sounds? Nor can they com-
prehend the pleasure o/ seeing dogs run after a hare, -more
than of seeing one dog run after another ; for if the seeing
them run is that which gives the pleasure, you have the
same entertainment to the eye on both these occasions ;
since that is the same in both cases : but if the pleasure
lies in seeing the hare killed and torn by the dogs, this
ought rather to stir pity, that a weak, harmless and fearful
hare should be devoured by strong, fierce, and cruel dogs.
Therefore all this business of hunting is, among the
Utopians, turned over to their butchers ; and those, as has
been already said, are all slaves ; and they look on hunting
as one of the basest parts of a butcher's work : for they
account it both more profitable and more decent to kill
those beasts that are more necessary and useful to mankind ;
whereas the killing and tearing of so small and miserable
an animal can only attract the huntsman with a false show
of pleasure, from which he can reap but small advantage.
They look on the desire of the bloodshed, even of beasts,
as a mark of a mind that is already corrupted with cruelty,
or that at least by the frequent returns of so brutal a
pleasure must degenerate into it.

Thus, though the rabble of mankind look upon these,
and on innumerable other things of the same nature, as plea-
sures ; the Utopians, on the contrary, observing that there is
nothing in them truly pleasant, conclude that they are not to
be reckoned among pleasures : for though these things may
create some tickling in the senses (which seems to be a
true notion of pleasure), yet they imagine that • this does not

122 UTOPIA.

arise fnxn the thing itself, but from a depraved custom,
which may so vitiate a man's taste, that bitter things may
pass for sweet ; as women with child think pitch or tallow
taste sweeter than honey ; but as a man's sense when cor-
rupted, either by a disease or some ill habit, does not
change the nature of other things, so neither can it change
the nature of pleasure.

They reckon up several sorts of pleasures, which they call
true ones : some belong to the body and others to the mind.
The pleasures of the mind lie in knowledge, and in that
delight which the contemplation of truth carries with it ; to
which they add the joyful reflections on a well-spent life,
and the assured hopes of a future happiness. They divide
the pleasures of the body into two sorts ; the one is that
which gives our senses some real delight, and is performed,
either by recruiting nature, and supplying those parts which
feed the internal heat of life by eating and drinking ; or when
nature is eased of any surcharge that oppresses it ; when we
are relieved from sudden pain, or that which arises from
satisfying the appetite which Nature has wisely given to lead
us to the propagation of the species. There is another kind
of pleasure that arises neither from our receiving what the
body requires, nor its being relieved when overcharged, and
yet by a secret, unseen yirtue affects the senses, raises the
passions, and strikes the mind with generous impressions ;
this is the pleasure that arises from music. Another kind of
bodily pleasure is that which results from an undisturbed
and vigorous constitution of body, when life and active
spirits seem to actuate every part. This lively health, when
entirely free from all mixture of pain, of itself gives an inward
pleasure, independent of all external objects of delight ; and
though this pleasure does not so powerfully affect us, nor act
so strongly on the senses as some of the others, yet it may
be esteemed as the greatest of all pleasures, and almost all
the Utopians reckon it the foundation and basis of all the

UTOPfA. 1*3

Other joys of life ; since this alone makes the state of life
easy and desirable ; and when this is wanting, a man is
really capable of no other pleasure. They look upon free-
dom from pain, if it does not rise from perfect health, to be
a state of stupidity rather than of pleasure. This subject-
has been very narrowly canvassed among them ; and it has
been debated whether a firm and entire health could be called
a pleasure or not ? Some have thought that there was no
pleasure but what was excited by some sensible motion in
the body. But this opinion has been long ago excluded
from among them, so that now they almost universally
agree that health is the greatest of all bodily pleasures ;
and that as there is a pain in sickness, which is as opposite
jn its nature to pleasure as sickness itself is to health ; so
they hold, that health is accompanied with pleasure : and if
any should say that sickness is not really pain, but that it
only carries pain along with it, they look upon that as a
fetch of subtilty, that does not much alter the matter. It is
all one, in their opinion, whether it be said that health is in
itself a pleasure, or that it begets a pleasure, as fire gives
heat ; so it be granted, that all those whose health is entire
have a true pleasure in the enjoyment of it : and they
reason thus — what is the pleasure of eating, but that a man's
health which had been weakened,., does, with the assistance
of food, drive a\\ay hunger, and so recruiting itself recovers
its former vigour? And being thus refreshed, it finds a
pleasure in that conflict ; and if the conflict is pleasure, the
victory must yet breed a greater pleasure, except we fancy
that it becomes stupid as soon as it has obtained that which
it pursued, and so neither knows nor rejoices in its own'
welfare. If it is said that health cannot be felt, they abso-
lutely deny it ; for what man is in health that does not
perceive it when he is awake ? Is there any man that is so
dull and stupid as not to acknowledge that he feels a delight in
health ? And what is delight but another name for pleasure?

**4 UTOPIA.

But of all pleasures, they esteem those to be most valu-
able that lie in the mind ; the chief of which arises out of true
virtue, and the witness of a good conscience. They account
health the chief pleasure that belongs to the body ; for they
think that the pleasure of eating and drinking, and all the
other delights of sense, are only so far desirable as they give
or maintain health. But they are not pleasant in themselves,
otherwise than as they resist those impressions that our
natural infirmities are still making upon us : for as a wise
man desires rather to avoid diseases than to take physic ;
and to be freed from pain, rather than to find ease by
remedies ; so it is more desirable not to need this sort of
pleasure, than to be obliged to indulge it. If any man
imagines that there is a real happiness in these enjoyments,
he must then confess that he would be the happiest of all
men if he were to lead his life in perpetual hunger, thirst,
and itching, and by consequence in perpetual eating, drink-
ing, and scratching himself; which any one may easily see
would be not only a base, but a miserable state of a life.
These are indeed the lowest of pleasures, and the least
pure; for we can never relish them, but when they are
mixed with the contrary pains. The pain of hunger must
give us the pleasure of eating ; and here the pain out-
balances the pleasure ; and as the pain is more vehement,
so it lasts much longer ; for as it begins before the pleasure,
so it does not cease but with the pleasure that extinguishes
it, and both expire together. They think, therefore, none of
those pleasures are to be valued any further than as they
are necessary ; yet they rejoice in them, and with due
gratitude acknowledge the tenderness of the great Author of
Nature, who has planted in us appetites, by which those
things that are necessary for our preservation are likewise
made pleasant to us. For how miserable a thing would life
be, if those daily diseases of hunger and thirst were to be
carried off by such bitter drugs as we must use for those

UTOPIA. 125

diseases that return seldomer upon us? And thus these
pleasant as well as proper gifts of Nature maintain the
strength and the sprightliness of our bodies.

They also entertain themselves with the other delights let
in at their eyes, their ears, and their nostrils, as the pleasant
relishes and seasonings of life, which Nature seems to have
marked out peculiarly for man; since no other sort of
animals contemplates the figure and beauty of the universe ;
nor is delighted with smells, any farther than as they dis-
tinguish meats by them ; nor do they apprehend the concords
or discords of sound ; yet in all pleasures whatsoever they
take care that a lesser joy does not hinder a greater, and
that pleasure may never breed pain, which they think always
follows dishonest pleasures. But they think it madness for
a man to wear out the beauty of his face, or the force of his
natural strength ; to corrupt the sprightliness of his body by
sloth and laziness, or to waste it by fasting ; that it is mad-
ness to weaken the strength of his constitution, and reject
the other delights of life; unless by renouncing his own
satisfaction, he can either serve the public or promote the
happiness of others, for which he expects a greater recom-
pense from God. So that they look on such a course of life
as the mark of a mind that is both cruel to itself, and
ungrateful to the Author of Nature, as if we would not be
beholden to Him for His favours, and therefore rejects all His
blessings ; as one who should afflict himself for the empty
shadow of virtue ; or for no better end than to render him-
self capable of bearing those misfortunes which possibly will
never happen.

This is their notion of virtue and of pleasure ; they think
that no man's reason can carry him to a truer idea of them,
unless some discovery from Heaven should inspire him with
sublimer notions. I have not now the leisure to examine
whether they think right or wrong in this matter : nor do I
judge it necessary, for I have only undertaken to give you

126 UTOPIA.

an account of their constitution, but not to defend all their
principles. I am sure, that whatsoever may be said of their
notions, there is not in the whole world either a better
people or a happier government : their bodies are vigorous
and lively ; and though they are but of a middle stature, and
have neither the fruitfullest soil nor the purest air in the
world, yet they fortify themselves so well by their temperate
course of life, against the unhealthiness of their air, and by
their industry they so cultivate their soil, that there is no-
where to be seen a greater increase both of corn and cattle,
nor are there anywhere healthier men, and freer from
diseases : for one may there see reduced to practice, not
only all the art that the husbandman employs in manuring
and improving an ill soil, but whole woods plucked up by
the roots^and in other places new ones planted, where there
were none before. Their principal motive for this is the
convenience of carriage, that their timber may be either near
their towns, or growing on the banks of the sea, or of some
rivers, so as to be floated to them ; for it is a harder work to
carry wood at any distance over land, than corn. The
people are industrious, apt to learn, as well as cheerful and
pleasant ; and none can endure more labour, when it is
necessary ; but except in that case they love their ease.
They are unwearied pursuers of knowledge ; for when we
had given them some hints of the learning and discipline of
the Greeks, concerning whom we only instructed them (for
we know that there was nothing among the Romans, except
their historians and their poets, that they would value much),
it was strange to see how eagerly they were set on learning
that language. We began to read a little of it to them,
rather in compliance with their importunity, than out of any
hopes of their reaping from it any great advantage. But
after a very short trial, we found they made such progress,
that we saw our labour was like to be more successful than
we could have expected. They learned to write then

UTOPIA. 127

characters, and to pionounce their language so exactly, had
so quick an apprehension, they remembered it so faithfully,
and became so ready and correct in the use of it, that it
would have looked like a miracle if the greater part of those
tvhom we taught had not been men both of extraordinary
capacity and of a fit age for instruction. They were for
the greatest part chosen from among their learned men, by
their chief council, though some studied it of their own
accord. In three years' time they became masters of the
whole language, so that they read the best of the Greek
authors very exactly. I am indeed apt to think that they
learned that language the more easily, from its having
some relation to their own. I believe that they were a colony
of the Greeks ; for though their language comes nearer
the Persian, yet they retain many names, both for their
towns and magistrates, that are of Greek derivation. I
happened to carry a great many books with me, instead
of merchandise, when I sailed my fourth voyage ; for I was
so far from thinking of soon coming back, that ' I rather
thought never to have returned at all, and I gave them all
my books, among which were many of Plato's and some of
Aristotle's works. I had also Theophrastus on Plants,
which, to my great regret, was imperfect ; for having laid it
carelessly by, while we were at sea, a monkey had seized upon
it, and in many places torn out the leaves. They have no
books of grammar but Lascares, for I did not carry Theo-
doras with me ; nor have they any dictionaries but Hesichius
and Dioscorides. They esteem Plutarch highly, and were
much taken with Lucian's wit, and witk his pleasant way of
writing. As for the poets, they have Aristophanes, Homer,
Euripides, and Sophocles of Aldus's edition ; and for historians
Thucydides, Herodotus and Herodian. One of my com-
panions, Thricius Apinatus, happened to carry with him some
of Hippocrates's works, and Galen's Microtechne, which they
hold in great estimation ; for though there is no nation in tlie

128 UTOPIA.

world that needs physic so little as they do, yet there is not
any that honours it so much : they reckon the knowledge
of it one of the pleasantest and most profitable parts cf
philosophy, by which, as they search into the secrets of
Nature, so they not only find this study highly agreeable, but
think that such inquiries are very acceptable to the Author of
Nature ; and imagine that as He, like the inventors of curious
engines amongst mankind, has exposed this great machine
of the universe to the view of the only creatures capable of
contemplating it, so an exact and curious observer, who ad-
mires His workmanship, is much more acceptable to Him
than one of the herd, who like a beast incapable of reason,
looks on this glorious scene with the eyes of a dull and un-
concerned spectator.

The minds of Ihe Utopians when fenced with a love for
learning, are very ingenious in discovering all such arts as
are necessary to carry it to perfection. Two things they owe
to us, the manufacture of paper, and the art of printing : yet
they are not so entirely indebted to us for these discoveries,
but that a great part of the invention was their own. We
showed them some books printed by Aldus, we explained to
them the way of making paper, and the mystery of printing ;
but as we had never practised these arts, we described them
in a crude and superficial manner. They seized the hints
we gave them, and though at first they could not arrive at per-
fection, yet by making many essays they at last found out
and corrected all their errors, and conquered every difficulty.
Before this they only wrote on parchment, on reeds, or on
the barks of trees \ but now they have established the manu-
factures of paper, and set up printing-presses, so that if
they had but a good number of Greek authors they would
be quickly supplied with many copies of them : at present,
though they have no more than those I have mentioned, yet
by several impressions they have multiplied them into many
thousands. If any man was to go among them that hacj

UTOPIA.

1*9

some extraordinary talent, or that by much travelling had
observed the customs of many nations (which made us to
be so well received), he would receive a hearty welcome ; for
they are very desirous to know the state of the whole world.
Very few go among them on the account of traffic, for what
can a man carry to them but iron, or gold, or silver, which
merchants desire rather to export than import to a strange
country : and as for their exportation, they think it better to
manage that themselves than to leave it to foreigners, for
by this means, as they understand the state of the neighbour,
ing countries better, so they keep up the art of navigation
which cannot be maintained but by much practice.

OF THEIR SLAVES, AND OF THEIR MARRIAGES.

THEY do not make slaves of prisoners of war, except those
that are taken in battle ; nor of the sons of their slaves, nor of
those of other nations : the slaves among them are only such
as are condemned to that state of life for the commission of
some crime, or, which is more common, such as their mer-
chants find condemned to die in those parts to which they
trade, whom they sometimes redeem at low rates ; and in
other places have them for nothing. They are kept at per-
petual labour, and are always chained, but with this difference,
that their own natives are treated much worse than others ;
they are considered as more profligate than the rest, and
since they could not be restrained by the advantages of so
excellent an education, are judged worthy of harder usage.
Another sort of slaves are the poor of the neighbouring
countries, who offer of their own accord to come and serve
them ; they treat these better, and use «them in all other
respects as well as their own countrymen, except their im-
posing more labour upon them, which is no hard task to
those that have been accustomed to it ; and if any of these

£

1 30 UTOPIA.

have a mind to go back to their own country, which indeed
falls out but seldom, as they do not force them to stay, so
they do not send them away empty-handed.

I have already told you with what care they look after
their sick, so that nothing is left undone that can contribute
either to their ease or health : and for those who are taken
with fixed and incurable diseases, they use all possible ways
to cherish them, and to make their lives as comfortable as
possible. They visit them often, and take great pains to
make their time pass off easily : but when any is taken with,
a torturing and lingering pain, so that there is no hope, either
of recovery or ease, the priests and magistrates come and
exhort them, that since they are now unable to go on with
the business of life, are become a burden to themselves and
to all about them, and they have really outlived themselves,
they should no longer nourish such a rooted distemper, but
choose rather to die, since they cannot live but in much
misery : being assured, that if they thus deliver themselves
from torture, or are willing that others should do it, they
shall be happy after death. Since by their acting thus, they
lose none of the pleasures, but only the troubles of life ;
they think they behave not only reasonably, but in a manner
consistent with religion and piety ; because they follow the
advice given them by their priests, who are the expounders
of the will of God. Such as are wrought on by these per-
suasions, either starve themselves of their own accord, or
take opium, and by that means die without pain. But no
man is forced on this way of ending his life ; and if they
cannot be persuaded to it, this does not induce them to fail
in their attendance and care of them ; but as they believe
that a voluntary death, when it is chosen upon such an
authority, is very* honourable, so if any man takes away his
own life, without the approbation of the priests and the
Senate, they give him none of the honours of a decent funeral,
but throw his body into a ditch.

UTOPIA. 131

Their women are not married before eighteen, nor their
men before two-and-twenty, and if any of them run into for-
bidden embraces before marriage they are severely punished,
and the privilege of marriage is denied them, unless they
can obtain a special warrant from the Prince. Such dis-
orders cast a great reproach upon the master and mistress of
the family in which they happen, for it is supposed that they
have failed in their duty. The reason of punishing this so
severely is, because they think that if they were not strictly
restrained from all vagrant appetites, very few would engage
in a state in which they venture the quiet of their whole
lives, by being confined to one person, and are obliged to
endure all the inconveniences with which it is accompanied.
In choosing their wives they use a method that would appear
to us very absurd and ridiculous, but it is constantly observed
among them, and is accounted perfectly consistent with
wisdom. Before marriage some grave matron presents the
bride naked, whether she is a virgin or a widow, to the
bridegroom ; and after that some grave man presents the
bridegroom naked to the bride. We indeed both laughed
at this, and condemned it as very indecent. But they, on
the other hand, wondered at the folly of the men of all other
nations, who, if they are but to buy a horse of a small value,
are so cautious that they will see every part of him, and
take off both his saddle and all his other tackle, that there
may be no secret ulcer hid under any of them ; and that
yet in the choice of a wife, on which depends the happiness
or unhappiness of the rest of his life, a man should venture
upon trust, and only see about a hand's-breadth of the face,
all the rest of the body being covered, under which there
may lie hid what may be contagious, as well as loath-
some. All men are not so wise as to choose a woman only
for her good qualities ; and even wise men consider the
body as that which adds not a little to the mind : and jt is
certain there may be some such deformity covered with the

131. UTOPIA.

clothes as may totally alienate a man from his wife when it
is too late to part with her. If such a thing is discovered
after marriage, a man has no remedy but patience. They
therefore think it is reasonable that there should be good
provision made against such mischievous frauds.

There was so much the more reason for them to make a
regulation in this matter, because they are the only people
of those parts that neither allow of polygamy, nor of divorces,
except in the case of adultery, or insufferable perverseness ;
for in these cases the Senate dissolves the marriage, and
grants the injured person leave to marry again ; but the
guilty are made infamous, and are never allowed the privilege
of a second marriage. None are suffered to put away their
wives against their wills, from any great calamity that may
have fallen on their persons ; for they look on it as the height
of cruelty and treachery to abandon either of the married
persons when they need most the tender care of their com-
fort, and that chiefly in the case of old age, which as it
carries many diseases along with it, so it is a disease of itself.
But it frequently falls out that when a married couple do not
well agree, they by mutual consent separate, and find out
other persons with whom they hope they may live more
happily. Yet this is not done without obtaining leave of
the Senate, which never admits of a divorce, but upon a
strict inquiry made, both by the senators and their wives,
into the grounds upon which it is desired ; and even when
they are satisfied concerning the reasons of it, they go on
but slowly, for they imagine that too great easiness in
granting leave for new marriages would very much shake
the kindness of married people. They punish severely those
that defile the marriage-bed. If both parties are married
they are divorced, and the injured persons may marry one
another, or whom they please ; but the adulterer and the
adulteress are condemned to slavery. Yet if either of the
injured person? cannot shake off the love of the married

UTOPIA. tft

person, they may live with them still in that state, but they
must follow them to that labour to which the slaves are con-
demned ; and sometimes the repentance of the condemned,
together with the unshaken kindness of the innocent and
injured person, has prevailed so far with the Prince that he
has taken off the sentence ; but those that relapse after they
are once pardoned are punished with death.

Their law does not determine the punishment for other
crimes ; but that is left to the Senate, to temper it according
to the circumstances of the fact. Husbands have power to
correct their wives, and parents to chastise their children,
unless the fault is so great that a public punishment is
thought necessary for striking terror into others. For the
most part, slavery is the punishment even of the greatest
crimes ; for as that is no less terrible to the criminals them-
selves than death, so they think the preserving them in a
state of servitude is more for the interest of the common-
wealth than killing them ; since as their labour is a greater
benefit to the public than their death could be, so the sight
of their misery is a more lasting terror to other men than
that which would be given by their death. If their slaves
rebel, and will not bear their yoke, and submit to the labour
that is enjoined them, they are treated as wild beasts
that cannot be kept in order, neither by a prison, nor by
their chains ; and are at last put to death. But those who
bear their punishment patiently, and are so much wrought
on by that pressure that lies so hard on them that it appears
they are really more troubled for the crimes they have com-
mitted than for the miseries they suffer, are not out of hope
but that at last either the Prince will, by his prerogative, or
the people by their intercession, restore them again to their
liberty, or at least very much mitigate their slavery. He
that tempts a married woman to adultery, is no less severely
punished than he that commits it; for they believe that a
deliberate design to commit a crime, is equal to the fact

i§4 VTOPIA.

itself : since its not taking effect does not make the person
that miscarried in his attempt at all the less guilty.

They take great pleasure in fools, and as it is thought a
base and unbecoming thing to use them ill, so they do not
think it amiss for people to divert themselves with their
folly : and, in their opinion, this is a great advantage to the
fools themselves : for if men were so sullen and severe as
not at all to please themselves with their ridiculous behaviour
and foolish sayings, which is all that they can do to recom-
mend themselves to others, it could not be expected that
they would be so well provided for, nor so tenderly used as
they must otherwise be. If any man should reproach another
for his being misshaped or imperfect in any part of his body,
it would not at all be thought a reflection on the person so
treated, but it would be accounted scandalous in him that
had upbraided another with what he could not help. It is
thought a sign of a sluggish and sordid mind not to preserve
I carefully one's natural beauty ; but it is likewise infamous
among them to use paint. They all see that no beauty re-
commends a wife so much to her husband as the probity of
her life, and her obedience : for as some few are catched
and held only by beauty, so all are attracted by the other
excellences which charm all the world.

As they fright men from committing crimes by punish-
ments, so they invite them to the love of virtue by public
honours : therefore they erect statues to the memories of
such worthy men as have deserved well of their country, and
set these in their market-places, both to perpetuate the re-
membrance of their actions, and to be an incitement to their
posterity to follow their example.

If any man aspires to any office, he is sure never to com-
pass it : they all live easily together, for none of the magis-
trates are either insolent or cruel to the people : they affect
rather to be called fathers, and by being really so, they well
deserve the name ; and the people pay them all the marks

UTOPIA. 135

of hohour the more freely, because none are exacted from
them. The Prince himself has no distinction, either of
garments, or of a crown ; but is only distinguished by a sh 2ai
of corn carried before him ; as the high priest is also known
by his being preceded by a person carrying a wax light.

They have but few laws, and such is their constitution
that they need not many. They very much condemn other
nations, whose laws, together with the commentaries on
them, swell up to so many volumes ; for they think it an un-
reasonable thing to oblige men to obey a body of laws that
are both of such a bulk, and so dark as not to be read and
understood by every one of the subjects.

They have no lawyers among them, for they consider them
as a sort of people whose profession it is to disguise matters,
and to wrest the laws ; and therefore they think it is much
better that every man should plead his own cause, and trust
it to the judge, as in other places the client trusts it to a coun-
sellor. By this means they both cut off many delays, and
find out truth more certainly : for after the parties have
laid open the merits of the cause, without those artifices
which lawyers are apt to suggest, the judge examines the
whole matter, and supports the simplicity of such well-mean-
ing persons, whom otherwise crafty men would be sure to
run down : and thus they avoid those evils which appear
very remarkably among all those nations that labour under
a vast load of laws. Every one of them is skilled in their
law, for as it is a very short study, so the plainest meaning
of which words are capable is always the sense of their
laws. And they argue thus : all laws are promulgated for
this end, that every man may know his duty ; and therefore
the plainest and most obvious sense of the words is that
which ought to be put upon them ; since a more refined ex-
position cannot be easily comprehended, and would only
serve to make the laws become useless to the greater part of
mankind, and especially to those who need most the direc-

136 UTOPIA.

tion of them : for it is all one, not to make a law at all, or
to couch it in such terms that without a quick apprehension,
and much study, a man cannot find out the true meaning of
it ; since the generality of mankind are both so dull, and so
much employed in their several trades, that they have neither
the leisure nor the capacity requisite for such an inquiry.

Some of their neighbours, who are masters of their own
liberties, having long ago, by the assistance of the Utopians,
shaken off the yoke of tyranny, .and being much taken
with those virtues which they observe among them, have
come to desire that they would send magistrates to govern
them; some changing them every year, and others every
five years. At the end of their government they bring
them back to Utopia, with great expressions of honour and
esteem, and carry away others to govern in their stead. In
this they seem to have fallen upon a very good expedient
for their own happiness and safety ; for since the good or
ill condition of a nation depends so much upon their
magistrates, they could not have made a better choice than
by pitching on men whom no advantages can bias; for
wealth is of no use to them, since they must so soon go
back to their own country ; and they being strangers among
them, are not engaged in any of their heats or animosities ;
and it is certain that when public judicatories are swayed,
either by avarice or partial affections, there must follow a
dissolution of justice, the chief sinew of society.

The Utopians call those nations that come and ask
magistrates from them, neighbours ; but those to whom
they have been of more particular service, friends. And as
all other nations are perpetually either making leagues or
breaking them, they never enter into an alliance with any
state. They think leagues are useless things, and believe
that if the common ties of humanity do not knit men
together, the faith of promises will have no great effect ;
and they are the more confirmed in this by what they see

UTOPIA. \$i

among the nations round about them, who we no strict
observers of leagues and treaties. We know how religiously
they are observed in Europe, more particularly where the
Christian doctrine is received, among whom they are sacred
and inviolable. Which is partly owing to the justice and
goodness of the princes themselves, and partly to the
reverence they pay to the popes ; who as they are most
religious observers of their own promises, so they exhort all
other princes to perform theirs ; and when fainter methods
do not prevail, they compel them to it by the severity of
the pastoral censure, and think that it would be the most
indecent thing possible if men who are particularly dis-
tinguished by the title of the faithful, should not religiously
keep the faith of their treaties. But in that new-found
world, which is not more distant from us in situation than
the people are in their manners and course of life, there is
no trusting to leagues, even though they were made with all
the pomp of the most sacred ceremonies ; on the contrary,
they are on this account the sooner broken, some slight
pretence being found in the words of the treaties, which are
purposely couched in such ambiguous terms that they can
never be so strictly bound but they will always find some
loophole to escape at; and thus they break both their
leagues and their faith. And this is done with such impu-
dence, that those very men who value themselves on having
suggested these expedients to their princes, would with a
haughty scorn declaim against such craft, or to speak plainer,
such fraud and deceit, if they found private men make use
of it in their bargains, and would readily say that they
deserved to be hanged.

By this means it is, that all sort of justice passes in the
world for a low-spirited and vulgar virtue, far below the
dignity of royal greatness. Or at least, there are set up
two sorts of justice; the one is mean, and creeps on the
ground, and therefore becomes none but the .lower part of

V TO PI A.

mankind, and so must be kept in severely by many restraints
ih.it it. may not break out beyond tlie bounds that are set to
it. The other is the peculiar virtue of princes, which as it
i, m<>ie ui;i|«:.tn than that which becomes the rabble, so
t.ikr, a fn-or compass; and thus lawful and unlawful arc
only ni'.T-inrd by pleasure and intnest. These practices
ol the princes that lie about Utopia, who make so little
account of their faith, seem to be the reasons that determine
them to engage in no confederacies; perhaps they would
rhmigc their mind if they lived among us; but yet though
treaties were more religiously observed, they would still
dislike the custom of making them ; since the world has
taken up a false maxim upon it, as if there were no tie of
Nature uniting one nation to another, only separated perhaps
by .1 mountain or a river, and that all were born in a state
of hostility, and so might lawfully do all that mischief to
their neighbours against which there is no provision made
by treaties ; and that when treaties arc made, they do not
<ut off the enmity, or restrain tho license of preying upon
cadi other, if by the unskilfulness of wording them there
arc not effectual provisoes made against them. They, on
the other hand, judge that no man is to be esteemed our
enemy that has never injured us; and that the partnership
of the human natme is instead of a league. And that
kindness and good-nature unite men more effectually and
with greater strength than any agreements whatsoever;
MIX c thereby tin: engagements of men's hearts become
stronger lhajn the bond and obligation of words.

OF THl'.lR Mil ITAKY DISfU'LINE.

Tni'\ dele-, I w.u as a very InuUl thing; and which, to the
iq.iiuchoi human nature, is more practised by men than
by any sort of beasts. They, in opposition to the senti-

VTOPIA. 1$9

ments of almost all other nations, think that th<;rt- is nothing
more inglorious than that glory that is gained by war. And
therefore though they accustom themselves daily to military
exen ises and the discipline of war, in which not only their
men but their women likewise are trained up, that in cases
of necessity they may not be quite useless ; yet they do
not rashly engage in war, unless it be either to defend them-
selves, or their friends, from any unjust aggressors ; or out of
good-nature or in compassion assist an oppressed nation in
shaking off the yoke of tyranny. They indeed help their
friends, not only in defensive, but also in offensive wars ;
but they never do that unless they had been consulted
before the breach was made, and being satisfied with the
grounds on which they went, they had found that all
demands of reparation were rejected, so that a war was un-
avoidable. This they think to be not only just, when one
neighbour makes an inroad on another, by public order, and
carry away the spoils ; but when the merchants of one
country are oppressed in another, either under pretence of
some unjust laws, or by the perverse wresting of good ones.
This they count a juster cause of war than the other, because
those injuries are done under some colour of laws. This
was the only ground of that war in which they engaged with
the Nephelogetes against the Aleopolitanes, a little before
our time ; for the merchants of the former having, as they
thought, met with great injustice among the latter, which,
whether it was in itself right or wrong, drew on a terrible
war, in which many of their neighbours were engaged ; and
their keenness in carrying it on being supported by their
strength in maintaining it, it not only shook some very
flourishing states, and very much afflicted others, but after a
series .-lief ended in the entire conquest and

slavery of the Aleopolitanes, whothoijii before the war they
were in all respects much superior to t!,c Nephelogetes,
were yet subdued ; but though the Utopian had assisted

140 VTOPlA.

them in the war, yet they pretended to no share of the
spoil.

But though they so vigorously assist their friends in
obtaining reparation for the injuries they have received in
affairs of this nature, yet if any such frauds was committed
against themselves, provided no violence was done to their
persons, they would only on their being refused satisfaction
forbear trading with such a people. This is not because
they consider their neighbours more than their own citizens ;
but since their neighbours trade every one upon his own
stock, fraud is a more sensible injury to them than it is to
the Utopians, among whom the public in such a case only
suffers. As they expect nothing in return for the merchan-
dises they export but that in which they so much abound,
and is of little use to them, the loss does not much affect
them ; they think therefore it would be too severe to revenge
a loss attended with so little inconvenience either to their
lives, or their subsistence, with the death of many persons ;
but if any of their people is either killed or wounded wrong-
fully, whether it be done by public authority or only by
private men, as soon as they hear of it they send ambas-
sadors, and demand that the guilty persons may be delivered
up to them ; and if that is denied, they declare war ; but if it
be complied with, the offenders are condemned either to
death or slavery.

They would be both troubled and ashamed of a bloody
victory over their enemies, and think it would be as foolish
a purchase as to buy the most valuable goods at too high a
rate. And in no victory do they glory so much as in that
which is gained by dexterity and good conduct, without
bloodshed. In such cases they appoint public triumphs,
and erect trophies to the honour of those who have suc-
ceeded ; for then do they reckon that a man acts suitably to
his nature when he conquers his enemy in such a way as
that no other creature but a man could be capable of, and

14*

that is by the strength of his understanding. Bear?, lions,
boars, wolves, and dogs, and all other animals employ their
bodily force one against another, in which as many of them
are superior to men, both in strength and fierceness, so they
are all subdued by his reason and understanding.

The only design of the Utopians in war is to obtain
that by force, which if it had been granted them in time
would have prevented the war ; or if that cannot be done, to
take so severe a revenge on those that have injured them
that they may be terrified from doing the like for the time to
come. By these ends they measure all their designs, and
manage them so that it is visible that the appetite of fame
or vain-glory does not work so much on them as a just care
of their own security.

As soon as they declare war, they take care to have a
great many schedules, that are sealed with their common
seal, affixed in the most conspicuous places of their enemies'
country. This is carried secretly, and done in many places
all at once. In these they promise great rewards to such
as shall kill the prince, and lesser in proportion to such as
shall kill any other persons, who are those on whom, next
to the prince himself, they cast the chief balance of the war.
And they double the sura to him that, instead of killing the
person so marked out, shall take him alive and put him in
their hands. They offer not only indemnity, but rewards,
to such of the persons themselves that are so marked, if
they will act against their countrymen : by this means those
that are named in their schedules become not only dis-
trustful of their fellow-citizens, but are jealous of one
another, and are much distracted by fear and danger ; for
it has often fallen out that many of them, and even the

Ence himself, have been betrayed by those in whom they
'e trusted most : for the rewards that the Utopians offer
»o unmeasurably great, that there is no sort of crime to
tch men cannot be drawn by them. They consider the

1 42 UTOPIA.

risk that those run who undertake such services, and offe.,
a recompense proportioned to the danger ; not only a vast
deal of gold, but great revenues in lands, that lie among
other nations that are their friends, where they may go and
enjoy them very securely ; and they observe the promises
they make of this kind most religiously. They very much
approve of this way of corrupting their enemies, though it
appears to others to be base and cruel ; but they look on it
as a wise course, to make an end of what would be other-
wise a long war, without so much as hazarding one battle
to decide it. They think it likewise an act of mercy and
love to mankind to prevent the great slaughter of those
that must otherwise be killed in the progress of the war,
both on their own side and on that of their enemies, by the
death of a few that are most guilty ; and that in so doing
they are kind even to their enemies, and pity them no less
than their own people, as knowing that the greater part of
them do not engage in the war of their own accord, but are
driven into it by the passions of their prince.

If this method does not succeed with them, then they
sow seeds of contention among their enemies, and animate
the prince's brother, or some of the nobility, to aspire to the
crown. If they cannot disunite them by domestic broils,
then they engage their neighbours against them, and make
them set on foot some old pretensions, which are never
wanting to princes when they have occasion for them.
These they plentifully supply with money, though but very
sparingly with any auxiliary troops : for they are so tender
of their own people, that they would not willingly exchange
one of them, even with the prince of their enemies'
country.

But as they keep their gold and silver only for such an
occasion, so when that offers itself they easily part with it,
since it would be no inconvenience to them though they
should reserve nothing of it to themselves. For besides

UTOPIA. 143

the wealth that they have among them at home, they have
a. vast treasure abroad, many nations round about them
being deep in their debt : so that they hire soldiers from all
places for carrying on their wars, but chiefly from the
Zapolets, who live five hundred miles east of Utopia. They
are a rude; wild, and fierce nation, who delight in the woods
and rocks, among which they were born and bred up.
They are hardened both against heat, cold and labour, and
know nothing of the delicacies of life. They do not apply
themselves to agriculture, nor do they care either for their
houses or their clothes. Cattle is all that they look after ;
and for the greatest part they live either by hunting, or
upon rapine ; and are made, as it were, only for war. They
watch all opportunities of engaging in it, and very readily
embrace such as are offered them. Great numbers of them
will frequently go out, and offer themselves for a very low
pay, to serve any that will employ them : they know none
of the arts of life, but those that lead to the taking it away ;
they serve those that hire them, both with much courage
and great fidelity; but will not engage to serve for any de-
termined time, and agree upon such terms, that the next day
they may go over to the enemies of those whom they serve,
if they offer them a greater encouragement : and will perhaps
return to them the day after that, upon a higher advance
of their pay. There are few wars in which they make not
a considerable part of the armies of both sides : so it often
out that they who are related, and were hired in the
e country, and so have lived long and familiarly together,
forgetting both their relations and former friendship, kill
one another upon no other consideration than that of being
hired to it for a little money, by princes of different interests ;
and such a regard have they for money, that they are easily
wrought on by the difference of one penny a day to change
sides. So entirely does their avarice influence them ; and
yet this money, which they value so highly, is of little use

i

144 UTOPIA.

to them; for what they purchase thus with their blood,
they quickly waste on luxury, which among them is but of
a poor and miserable form.

This nation serves the Utopians against all people what-
soever, for they pay higher than any other. The Utopians
hold this for a maxim, that as they seek out the best sort of
men for their own use at home, so they make use of this
worst sort of men for the consumption of war, and therefore
they hire them with the offers of vast rewards, to expose
themselves to all sorts of hazards, out of which the greater
part never returns to claim their promises. Yet they make
them good most religiously to such as escape. This ani-
mates them to adventure again, whenever there is occasion
for it ; for the Utopians are not at all troubled how many of
these happen to be killed, and reckon it a service done to man-
kind if they could be a means to deliver the world from such
a lewd and vicious sort of people, that seem to have run
together as to the drain of human nature. Next to these
they are served in their wars with those upon whose account
they undertake them, and with the auxiliary troops of their
other friends, to whom they join a few of their own people,
and send some men of eminent and approved virtue to
command in chief. There are two sent with him, who
during his command are but private men, but the first is to
succeed him if he should happen to be either killed or
taken ; and in case of the like misfortune to him, the third
comes in his place ; and thus they provide against ill events,
that such accidents as may befall their generals may not en-
danger their armies. When they draw out troops of their
own people, they take such out of every city as freely offer
themselves, for none are forced to go against their wills,
since they think that if any man is pressed that wants
courage, he will not only act faintly, but by his cowardice
dishearten others. But if an invasion is made on their
country they make use of such men, if they have good

UTOPIA. 145

bodies, though they are not brave ; and either put them
aboard their ships or place them on the walls of their towns,
that being so posted they may find no opportunity of flying
away ; and thus either shame, the heat of action, or the im-
possibility of flying, bears down their cowardice ; they often
make a virtue of necessity and behave themselves well, be-
cause nothing else is left them. But as they force no man
to go into any foreign war against his will, so they do not
hinder those women who are willing to go along with their
husbands ; on the contrary, they encourage and praise them,
and they stand often next their husbands in the front of the
army. They also place together those who are related,
parents and children, kindred, and those that are mutually
allied, near one another ; that those whom Nature has in-
spired with the greatest zeal for assisting one another, may
be the nearest and readiest to do it ; and it is matter of
great reproach if husband or wife survive one another, or if
a child survives his parents, and therefore when they come
to be engaged in action they continue to fight to the last
man, if their enemies stand before them. And as they use
all prudent methods to avoid the endangering their own men,
and if it is possible let all the action and danger fall upon the
troops that they hire, so if it becomes necessary for them-
selves to engage, they then charge with as much courage as
they avoided it before with prudence : nor is it a fierce
charge at first, but it increases by degrees; and as they
continue in action, they grow more obstinate and press
harder upon the enemy, insomuch that they will mucr
sooner die than give ground ; for the certainty that thei
children will be well looked after when they are dead, frees
them from all that anxiety concerning them which often
masters men of great courage ; and thus they are animated
by a noble and invincible resolution. Their skill in military
affairs increases their courage ; and the wise sentiments
which, according to the laws of their country are instilled

146 UTOPIA.

into them in their education, give additional vigour to their
minds : for as they do not undervalue life so as prodigally
to throw it away, they are not so indecently fond of it as to
preserve it by base and unbecoming methods. In the
greatest heat of action, the bravest of their youth, who have
devoted themselves to that service, single out the general of
their enemies, set on him either openly or by ambuscade,
pursue him everywhere, and when spent and wearied out,
are relieved by others, who never give over the pursuit ;
either attacking him with close weapons when they can get
near him, or, with those which wound at a distance, when
others get in between them ; so that unless he secures him-
self by flight, they seldom fail at last to kill or to take him
prisoner. When they have obtained a victory, they kill as
few as possible, and are much more bent on taking many
prisoners than on killing those that fly before them ; nor
do they ever let their men so loose in the pursuit of their
enemies, as not to retain an entire body still in order ; so
that if they have been forced to engage the last of their bat-
talions before they could gain the day, they will rather let
their enemies all escape than pursue them, when their own
army is in disorder ; remembering well what has often fallen
out to themselves, that when the main body of their army
has been quite defeated aud broken, when their enemies
imagining the victory obtained, have let themselves loose
into an irregular pursuit, a few of them that lay for a reserve,
waiting a fit opportunity, have fallen on them in their chase,
and when straggling in disorder and apprehensive of no
danger, but counting the day their own, have turned the
whole action, and wresting out of their hands a victory
that seemed certain and undoubted, while the vanquished
have suddenly become victorious.

It is hard to tell whether they are more dexterous in
laying or avoiding ambushes. They sometimes seem to fly
when it is far from their thoughts ; and when they intend to

UTOPIA.

'47

give ground, they do it so that it is very hard to find out
their design. If they see they are ill posted, or are like to
he overpowered by numbers, they then either march off in
the night with great silence, or by some stratagem delude
their enemies : if they retire in the daytime, they do it in
such order, that it is no less dangerous to fall upon them in
a retreat than in a march. They fortify their camps with a
deep and large trench, and throw up the earth that is dug
out of it for a wall ; nor do they employ only their slaves in
this, but the whole army works at it, except those that are
then upon the guard ; so that when so many hands are at
work, a great line and a strong fortification is finished in so
short a time that it is scarce credible. Their armour is
very strong for defence, and yet is not so heavy as to make
them uneasy in their marches ; they can even swim with it.
All that are trained up to war, practise swimming. Both
horse and foot make great use of arrows, and are very
expert. They have no swords, but fight with a pole-axe that
is both sharp and heavy, by which they thrust or strike
down an enemy. They are very good at finding out war-
like machines, and disguise them so well, that the enemy
does not perceive them till he feels the use of them ; so
that he cannot prepare such a defence as would render them
useless ; the chief consideration had in the making them,
is that they may be easily carried and managed.

If they agree to a truce, they observe it so religiously
that no provocations will make them break it. They never
lay their enemies' country waste, nor burn their corn, and
even in their marches they take all possible care that
neither horse nor foot may tread it down, for they do not
know but that they may have use for it themselves. They
hurt no man whom they find disarmed, unless he is a spy.
When a town is surrendered to them, they take it into their
protection : and when they carry a place by storm, they
never plunder it, but put those .only to the sword that

I48 UTOPIA.

opposed the rendering of it up, and make the rest of the
garrison slaves, but for the other inhabitants, they do them
no hurt ; and if any of them had advised a surrender, they
give them good rewards out of the estates of those that they
condemn, and distribute the rest among their auxiliary
troops, but they themselves take no share of the spoil

When a war is ended, they do not oblige their friends to
reimburse their expenses; but they obtain them of the
conquered, either in money, which they keep for the next
occasion, or in lands, out of which a constant revenue is to
be paid them ; by many increases, the revenue which they
draw out from several countries on such occasions, is now
risen to above 700,000 ducats a year. They send some of
their own people to receive these revenues, who have orders
to live magnificently, and like princes, by which means they
consume much of it upon the place ; and either bring over
the rest to Utopia, or lend it to that nation in which it lies.
This they most commonly do, unless some great occasion,
which falls out but very seldom, should oblige them to call
for it all. It is out of these lands that they assign rewards
to such as they encourage to adventure on desperate
attempts. If any prince that engages in war with them
is making preparations for invading their country, they
prevent him, and make his country the seat of the war ; for
they do not willingly suffer any war to break in upon their
island; and if that should happen, they would only defend
themselves by their own people, but would not call for
auxiliary troops to their assistance.

OF THE RELIGIONS OF THE UTOPIANS,

THERE are several sorts of religions, not only in different
parts of the island, but even in every town ; some wor-
shipping the sun, others the moon, or one of the planets:

UTOPIA. 149

some Worship such men as have been eminent in former
times for virtue, or glory, not only as ordinary deities, but
as the supreme God : yet the greater and wiser sort of
them worship none of these, but adore one eternal, invisible,
infinite, and incomprehensible Deity ; as a Being that is far
above all our apprehensions, that is spread over the whole
universe, not by His bulk, but by His power and virtue ;
Him they call the Father of All, and acknowledge that the
beginnings, the increase, the progress, the vicissitudes, and
the end of all things come only from Him ; nor do they
offer divine honours to any but to Him alone. And indeed,
though they differ concerning other things, yet all agree in
this, that they think there is one supreme Being that made
and governs the world, whom they call in the language of
their country Mithras. They differ in this, that one thinks
the God whom he worships is this supreme Being, and
another thinks that his idol is that God ; but they all /
agree in one principle, that whoever is this supreme Being, '
He is also that great Essence to whose glory and majesty I
all honours are ascribed by the consent of all nations.

By degrees, they fall off from the various superstitions that
are among them, and grow up to that one religion that is the
best and most in request ; and there is no doubt to be made
but that all the others had vanished long ago, if some of those
who advised them to lay aside their superstitions had not
met with some unhappy accident, which being considered as
inflicted by Heaven, made them afraid that the God whose
worship had like to have been abandoned, had inter-
posed, and revenged themselves on those who despised
their authority.

After they had heard from us an account of the doctrine,
the course of life, and the miracles of Christ, and of the
wonderful constancy of so many martyrs, whose blood, so
willingly offered up by them, was the chief occasion of spread-
ing their religion over a vast number of nations ; it is not to

55<5 UTOPIA.

be imagined how inclined they were to receive it. I shall
not determine whether this proceeded from any secret in-
spiration of God, or whether it was because it seemed so
favourable to that community of goods, which is an opinion
so particular as well as so dear to them ; since they perceived
that Christ and His followers lived by that rule, and that it
was still kept up in some communities among the sincerest
sort of Christians. From whichsoever of these motives it
might be, true it is that many of them came over to our
religion, and were initiated into it by baptism. But as two
of our number were dead, so none of the four that survived
were in priest's orders ; we therefore could only baptize them ;
so that to our great regret they could not partake of the
other sacraments, that can only be administered by priests ;
but they are instructed concerning them, and long most
vehemently for them. They have had great disputes among
themselves, whether one chosen by them to be a priest would
not be thereby qualified to do all the things that belong to
that character, even though he had no authority derived
from the Pope ; and they seemed to be resolved to choose
some for that employment, but they had not done it when I
left them.

Those among them that have not received our religion, do
not fright any from it, and use none ill that goes over to it ;
so that all the while I was there, one man was only punished
on this occasion. He being newly baptized, did, notwith-
standing all that we could say to the contrary, dispute
publicly concerning the Christian religion with more zeal
than discretion ; and with so much heat, that he not only
preferred our worship to theirs, but condemned all their rites
as profane ; and cried out against all that adhered to them,
as impious and sacrilegious persons, that were to be damned
to everlasting burnings. Upon his having frequently
preached in this manner, he was seized, and after trial he
was condemned to banishment, not for having disoaraged

UTOPIA. i5t

their religion, but for his inflaming the people to sedition :
for this is one of their most ancient laws, that no man ought
to be punished for his religion. At the first constitution of
their government, Utopus having understood that before
his coming among them the old inhabitants had been
engaged in great quarrels concerning religion, by which they
were so divided among themselves, that he found it an easy
thing to conquer them, since instead of uniting their forces
against him, every different party in religion fought by them-
selves; after he had subdued them, he made a law that
every man might be of what religion he pleased, and might
endeavour to draw others to it by the force of argument, and
by amicable and modest ways, but without bitterness against
those' of other opinions; but that he ought to use no other
force but that of persuasion, and was neither to mix with it
reproaches nor violence ; and such as did otherwise were to
be condemned to banishment or slavery.

This law was made by Utopus, not only for preserving the
public peace, which he saw suffered much by daily conten-
tions and irreconcilable heats, but because he thought the
interest of religion itself required it. He judged it not fit to
determine anything rashly, and seemed to doubt whether
those different forms of religion might not all come from
God, who might inspire men in a different manner, and be
pleased with this variety ; he therefore thought it indecent
and foolish for any man to threaten and terrify another to

ke him believe what did not appear to him to be true.

d supposing that only one religion was really true, and the
est false, he imagined that the native force of truth would
at last break forth and shine bright, if supported only by the
strength of argument, and attended to with a gentle and un-
prejudiced mind ; while, on the other hand, if such debates
were carried on with violence and tumults, as the most
wicked are always the most obstinate, so the best and most
holy religion might be choked with superstition, as corn is

iS* UTOPIA.

with briars and thorns ; he therefore left men wholly to theif
liberty, that they might be free to believe as they should see
cause ; only he made a solemn and severe law against such
as should so far degenerate from the dignity of human nature
as to think that our souls died with our bodies, or that the
world was governed by chance, without a wise overruling
Providence : for they all formerly believed that there was a
state of rewards and punishments to the good and bad after
this life ; and they now look on those that think otherwise
as scare* fit to be counted men, since they degrade so noble
a being as the soul, and reckon it no better than a beast's :
thus they are far from looking on such men as fit for human
society, or to be citizens of a well-ordered commonwealth ;
since a man of such principles must needs, as oft as he dares
do it, despise all their laws and customs : for there is no
doubt to be made that a man who is afraid of nothing but
the law, and apprehends nothing after death, will not scruple
to break through all the laws of his country, either by fraud
or force, when by this means he may satisfy his appetites.
They never raise any that hold these maxims, either to
honours or offices, nor employ them in any public trust, but
despise them, as men of base and sordid minds : yet they
do not punish them, because they lay this down as a maxim
that a man cannot make himself believe anything he
pleases ; nor do they drive any to dissemble their thoughts
by threatenings, so that men are not tempted to lie or dis-
guise their opinions ; which being a sort of fraud, is abhorred
by the Utopians. They take care indeed to prevent their
disputing in defence of these opinions, especially before the
common people ; but they suffer, and even encourage them
to dispute concerning them in private with their priests and
other grave men, being confident that they will be cured
of those mad opinions by having reason laid before them.
There are many among them that run far to the other
extreme, though it is neither thought an ill nor unreasonable

Opinion, and therefore is not at all discouraged. They think
that the souls of beasts are immortal, though far inferior to
the dignity of the human soul, and not capable of so great a \
happiness. They are almost all of them very firmly per- |
suaded that good men will be infinitely happy in another /
state ; so that though they are compassionate to all that are
sick, yet they lament no man's death, except they see him
loth to depart with life ; for they look on this as a very ill
presage, as if the soul, conscious to itself of guilt, and quite
hopeless, was afraid to leave the body, from some secret
hints of approaching misery. They think that such a man's
appearance before God cannot be acceptable to Him, who
being called on, does not go out cheerfully, but is backward
and unwilling, and is, as it were, dragged to it. They are
struck with horror when they see any die in this manner,
and carry them out in silence and with sorrow, and praying
God that He would be merciful to the errors of the departed
soul, they lay the body in the ground ; but when any die
cheerfully, and full of hope, they do not mourn for them,
but sing hymns when they carry out their bodies, and coni-
mending their souls very earnestly to God : their whole be-
haviour is then rather grave than sad, they burn the body,
and set up a pillar where the pile was made, with an inscrip-
tion to the honour of the deceased. When they come from
the funeral, they discourse of his good life and worthy
actions, but speak of nothing oftener and with more pleasure
than of his serenity at the hour of death. They think such
respect paid to the memory of good men is both the greatest
incitement to engage others to follow their example, and
the most acceptable worship that can be offered them ; for
they believe that though by the imperfection of human sight
they are invisible to us, yet they are present among us, and
hear those discourses that pass concerning themselves.
They believe it inconsistent with the happiness of departed
souls not to be at liberty to be where they will, and do not

iS4 UTOPIA.

imagine them capable of the ingratitude of not desiring to
see those friends with whom they lived on earth in the
strictest bonds of love and kindness : besides they are per-
suaded that good men after death have these affections and
all other good dispositions increased rather than diminished,
and therefore conclude that they are still among the living,
and observe all they say or do. From hence they engage
in all their affairs with the greater confidence of success, as
trusting to their protection ; while this opinion of the
presence of their ancestors is a restraint that prevents their
engaging in ill designs.

They despise and laugh at auguries, and the other vain
and superstitious ways of divination, so much observed
among other nations ; but have great reverence for such
miracles as cannot flow from any of the powers of Nature,
and look on them as effects and indications of the presence
of the supreme Being, of which they say many instances
have occurred among them; and that sometimes their
public prayers, which upon great and dangerous occasions
they have solemnly put up to God, with assured confidence
of being heard, have been answered in a miraculous manner.

They think the contemplating God in His works, and the
adoring Him for them, is a very acceptable piece of worship
to Him.

There are many among them, that upon a motive of
religion neglect learning, and apply themselves to no sort
of study; nor do they allow themselves any leisure time,
but are perpetually employed, believing that by the good
things that a man does he secures to himself that happiness
that comes after death. Some of these visit the sick ;
others mend highways, cleanse ditches, repair bridges, or
dig turf, gravel, or stones. Others fell and cleave timber,
and bring wood, corn, and other necessaries on carts into
their towns. Nor do these only serve the public, but they
serve even private men, more than the slaves themselves

UTOPIA. -155

do ; for if there is anywhere a rough., hard, and sordid piece
of work to be done, from which many are frightened by
the labour and loathsomeness of it, if not the despair of
accomplishing it, they cheerfully, and of their own accord,
take that to their share ; and by that means, as they ease
others very much, so they afflict themselves, and spend
their whole life in hard labour ; and yet they do not value
themselves upon this, nor lessen other people's credit to
raise their own; but by their stooping to such servile
employments, they are so far from being despised, that they
are so much the more esteemed by the whole nation.

Of these there are two sorts ; some live unmarried and
chaste, and abstain from eating any sort of flesh ; and thus
weaning, themselves from all the pleasures of the present
life, which they account hurtful, they pursue, even by the
hardest and painfullest methods possible, that blessedness
which they hope for hereafter ; and the nearer they approach
to it, they are the more cheerful and earnest in their
endeavours after it Another sort of them is less willing to
put themselves to much toil, and therefore prefer a married
state to a single one ; and as they do not deny themselves
the pleasure of it, so they think the begetting of children is
a debt which they owe to human nature and to their
country; nor do they avoid any pleasure that does not
hinder labour, and therefore eat flesh so much the more
willingly, as they find that by this means they are the more
able to work j the Utopians look upon these as the wiser
sect, but they esteem the others as the most holy. They
would indeed laugh at any man, who from the principles of
reason would prefer an unmarried state to a married, or a
life of labour to an easy life ; but they reverence and admire
such as do it from the motives of religion. There is
nothing in which they are more cautious than in giving
their opinion positively concerning any sort of religion.
The men that lead those severe lives are called in the

/$S UTOPIA.

language of their country Brutheskas, which answers to
those we call religious orders.

Their priests are men of eminent piety, and therefore they
are but few, for there are only thirteen in every town, one
for every temple \ but when they go to war, seven of these
go out with their forces, and seven others are chosen to
supply their room in their absence ; but these enter again
upon their employment when they return ; and those who
served in their absence attend upon the high-priest, till
vacancies fall by death ; for there is one set over all the rest
They are chosen by the people as the other magistrates are,
by suffrages given in secret, for preventing of factions ; and
when they are chosen they are consecrated by the college of
priests. The care of all sacred things, the worship of God,
and an inspection into the manners of the people, are com-
mitted to them. It is a reproach to a man to be sent for by
any of them, or for them to speak to him in secret, for that
always gives some suspicion. All that is incumbent on them
is only to exhort and admonish the people ; for the power of
| correcting and punishing ill men belongs wholly to the
Prince and to the other magistrates. The severest thing
that the priest does, is the excluding those that are despe-
rately wicked from joining in their worship. There is not any
sort of punishment more dreaded by them than this, for as
it loads them with infamy, so it fills them with secret horrors,
such is their reverence to their religion ; nor will their bodies
be long exempted from their share of trouble ; for if they do
not very quickly satisfy the priests of the truth of their
repentance, they are seized on by the Senate, and punished
for their impiety. The education of youth belongs to the
priests, yet they do not take so much care of instructing
them in letters as in forming their minds and manners aright »
they use all possible methods to infuse very early into the
tender and flexible minds of children such opinions as are
both good in themselves and will be useful to their country.

UTOPIA. 157

For when deep impressions of these things are made at that
age, they follow men through the whole course of their lives,
and conduce much to preserve the peace of the government,
which suffers by nothing more than by vices that rise out of
ill opinions. The wives of their priests are the most extra-
ordinary women of the whole country ; sometimes the women
themselves arc made priests, though that falls out but seldom,
nor are any but ancient widows chosen into that order.

None of the magistrates have greater honour paid them
than is paid the priests ; and if they should happen to com-
mit any crime, they would not be questioned for it. Their
punishment is left to God, and to their own consciences ;
for they do not think it lawful to lay hands on any man,
how wicked soever he is, that has been in a peculiar manner
dedicated to God ; nor do they find any great inconvenience
in this, both because they have so few priests, and because
these are chosen with much caution, so that it must be a
very unusual thing to find one who merely out of regard to
his virtue, and for his being esteemed a singularly good man,
was raised up to so great a dignity, degenerate into corrup-
tion and vice. And if such a thing should fall out, l^r man
is a changeable creature, yet there being few priests, and
these having no authority but what rises out of the respect
that is paid them, nothing of great consequence to the public
can proceed from the indemnity that the priests enjoy.

They have indeed very few of them, lest greater numbers
sharing in the same honour might make the dignity of that
order which they esteem so highly to sink in its reputation.
They also think it difficult to find out many of such an
exalted pitch of goodness, as to be equal to that dignity
which demands the exercise of more than ordinary virtues.
Nor are the priests in greater veneration among them than
they are among their neighbouring nations, as you may
imagine by that which I think gives occasion for it.

When the Utopians engage in battle, the, priests who

158 UTOPIA.

accompany them to the war, apparelled in their sacred
vestments, kneel down during the action, in a place not far
from the field ; and lifting up their hands to heaven, pray,
first for peace, and then for victory to their own side, and
particularly that it may be gained without the effusion of
much blood on either side ; and when the victory turns to
their side, they run in among their own men to restrain their
fury ; and if any of their enemies see them, or call to them,
they are preserved by that means : and such as can come so
near them as to touch their garments, have not only their
lives, but their fortunes secured to them ; it is upon this
account that all the nations round about consider them so
much, and treat them with such reverence, that they have
been often no less able to preserve their own people from
the fury of their enemies, than -to save their enemies from
their rage ; for it has sometimes fallen out, that when their
armies have been in disorder, and forced to fly, so that their
enemies were running upon the slaughter and spoil, the
priests by interposing have separated them from one
another, and stopped the effusion of more blood ; so that
by their mediation a peace has been concluded on very
reasonable terms ; nor is there any nation about them so
fierce, cruel, or barbarous as not to look upon their persons
as sacred and inviolable.

The first and the last day of the month, and of the year,
is a festival. They measure their months by the course of
the moon, and their years by the course of the sun. The
first days are called in their language the Cynemernes, and
the last the Trapemernes ; which answers in our language to
the festival that begins, or ends the season.

They have magnificent temples, that are not only nobly
built, but extremely spacious ; which is the more necessary, as
they have so few of them ; they are a little dark within, which
proceeds not from any error in the architecture, but is done
with design ; for their priests think tha,t too much light

UTOPIA. 159

dissipates the thoughts, and that a more moderate degree of
it both recollects the mind and raises devotion. Though
there are many different forms of religion among them, yet
all these, how various soever, agree in the main point, which
is the worshipping the Divine Essence ; and therefore there
is nothing to be seen or heard in their temples in which the
several persuasions among them may not agree ; for every
sect performs those' rites that are peculiar to it, in their
private houses, nor is there anything in the public worship
that contradicts the particular ways of those different sects.
There are no images for God in their temples, so that every
one may represent Him to his thoughts, according to the '
way of his religion ; nor do they call this one God by any
other name but that of Mithras, which is the common
name by which they all express the Divine Essence, whatso-
ever otherwise they think it to be; nor are there any
prayers among them but such as every one of them may
use without prejudice to his own opinion.

They meet in their temples on the evening of the festival
that concludes a season : and not having yet broke their fast,
they thank God for their good success during that year or
month, which is then at an end \ and the next 4ay being
that which begins the new season, they meet early in tht's
temples, to pray for the happy progress of all their affairs
during that period upon which they then enter. In the
festival which concludes the period,/ before they go to the ;
temple, both wives and children fall on their knees before their
husbands or parents, and confess everything in which they ;
have either erred or failed in their duty, and beg pardon for it.
Thus all little discontents in families are removed, that they j
may offer up their devotions with a pure and serene mind ; for |
they hold it a great impiety to enter upon them with dis- I
turbed thoughts, or with a consciousness of their bearing
hatred or anger in their hearts to any person whatsoever ;/
«md think that they should become liable to severe punish-

160 UTOPIA.

mcnts if they presumed to offer sacrifices without cleansing
their hearts, and reconciling all their differences. In the
temples, the two sexes are separated, the men go to the
right hand, and the women to the left ; and the males and
females all place themselves before the head and master
or mistress of that family to which they belong; so that
those who have the government of them at home may see
their deportment in public ; and they intermingle them so,
that the younger and the older may be set by one another ;
if r if the younger sort were all set together, they would
perhaps trifle away that time too much in which they
ought to beget in themselves that religious dread of the
supreme Being, which is the greatest and almost the only
incitement to virtue.

They offer up no living creature in sacrifice, nor do they
thiiik it suitable to the divine Being, from whose bounty it
is that these creatures have derived their lives, to take
pleasure in their deaths, or the offering up their blood.
They burn incense and other sweet odours, and have a
great number of wax lights during their worship ; not out of
any imagination that such oblations can add anything to the
divine Nature, which even prayers cannot do ; but as it is a
harmless and pure way of worshipping God, so they think
those sweet savours and light*?, together with some other
ceremonies, by a secret and unaccountable virtue, elevate
men's souls, and inflame them with greater energy and
cheerfulness during the divine worship.

All the people appear in the temples in white garments,
but the priest's vestments are parti-coloured, and both the
work and colours are wonderful. They are made of no rich
materials, for they are neither embroidered nor set with
precious stones, but are composed of the plumes of several
birds, laid together with so much art and so neatly, that the
/ue value of them is far beyond the costliest materi,ils.
They say that in the ordering and placing those plumes

UTOPIA. ioY

some dark mysteries are represented, which pass down
among their priests in a secret tradition concerning them;
and that they are as hieroglyphics, putting them in mind of
the blessings that they have received from God, and of their
duties both to Him and to their neighbours. As soon as the
priest appears in those ornaments, they all fall prostrate on
the ground, with so much reverence and so deep a silence
that such as look on cannot but be struck with it, as if it
were the effect of the appearance of a Deity. After they
have been for some time in this posture, they all stand up,
upon a sign given by the priest, and sing hymns to the
honour of <jod, some musical instruments playing all the
while. These are quite of another form than those used
among us : but as many of them are much sweeter than
ours, so others are made use of by us. Yet in one thing \
they very much exceed us; all their music, both vocal and (
instrumental, is adapted to imitate and express the passions, \
and is so happily suited to every occasion, that whether the
subject of the hymn be cheerful or formed to soothe or
trouble the mind, or to express grief or remorse, the music
takes the impression of whatever is represented, affects and
kindles the passions, and works the sentiments deep into
the hearts of the hearers. When this is done, both priests .}
and people offer up very solemn prayers to God in a set
form of words ; and these are so composed, that whatsoever
is pronounced by the whole assembly may be likewise ap-
plied by every man in particular to his own condition ; in
these they acknowledge God to be the author and governor
of the world, and the fountain of all the good they receive,
and therefore offer up to Him their thanksgiving; and in
particular bless Him for His goodness in ordering it so, that
they are born under the happiest government in the world,
and are of a religion which they hope is the truest of all
others : but if they are mistaken, and if there is either a
better government or a religion more acceptable to God,

V

162 UTOPIA.

they implore His goodness to let them know it, vowing that
they resolve to follow Him whithersoever He leads them.
But if their government is the best, and their religion the
truest, then they pray that He may fortify them in it, and
bring all the world both to the same rules of life, and to the
same opinions concerning himself ; unless, according to the
imsearchableness of His mind, He is pleased with a variety of
religions. Then they pray that God may give them an easy
passage at last to himself; not presuming to set limits to
Him, how early or late it should be ; but if it may be wished
for, without derogating from His supreme authority, they
desire to be quickly delivered, and to be taken to himself,
though by the most terrible kind of death, rather than to be
detained long from seeing Him by the most prosperous
course of life. When this prayer is ended, they all fall down
again upon the ground, and after a little while they rise up,
go home to dinner, and spend the rest of the day in diver-
sion or military e\c

Thus'havel described to you, as particularly as I could,
the constitution of that commonwealth, which I do not only
think the best in the world, but indeed the only common-
wealth that truly deserves that name. In all other places it
is visible, that while people talk of a commonwealth, every
man only seeks his own wealth ; but there, where no man
has any property, all men zealously pursue the good of the
public : and, indeed, it is no wonder to see men act so
differently ; for in other commonwealths, every man knows
that unless he provides for himself, how flourishing soever
the commonwealth may be, he must die of hunger ; so that
he sees the necessity of preferring his own concerns to the
public ; but in Utopia, where every man has a right to every-
thing, they all know that if care is taken to keep the public
stores full, no private man can want anything ; for among
them there is no unequal distribution, so that no man is poor,
none in necessity ; and though no man has anything, yet they

UTOPIA. 1 6*

are all rich ; for what can make a man so rich as to lead
a serene and cheerful life, free from anxieties; neither
apprehending want himself, nor vexed with the endless
complaints of his wife ? He is not afraid of the misery of
his children, nor is he contriving how to raise a portion for
his daughters, but is secure in this, that both he and his
wife, his children and grandchildren, to as many generations
as he can fancy, will all live both plentifully and happily ;
since among them there is no less care taken of those
who were once engaged in labour, but grow afterwards
unable to follow it, than there is elsewhere of these that
continue still employed. I would gladly hear any man com-
pare the justice that is among them with that of all other
nations; among whom, may I perish, if I see anything that
looks either like justice or equity : for what justice is there
•in this, that a nobleman, a goldsmith, a banker, or any
other man, that either does nothing at all, or at best is
employed in things that lire of no use to the public, should
live in great luxury and splendour, upon what is so ill ac-
quired ; and a mean man, a carter, a smith, or a ploughman,
that works harder even than the beasts themselves, and is
employed in labours so necessary, that no commonwealth
could hold out a year without them, can only earn so poor
a livelihood, and must lead so miserable a life, that the con-
dition of the beasts is much better than theirs ? For as the
beasts do not work so constantly, so they feed almost as
well, and with more pleasure ; and have no anxiety about
what is to come, whilst these men are depressed by a barren
and fruitless employment, and tormented with the apprehen-
sions of want in their old age ; since that which they get by
their daily labour does but maintain them at present, and is
consumed as fast as it comes in, there is no overplus left to
lay up for old age.

Is not that government both unjust and ungrateful, that is
so prodi^l of Us favours to those that are called gentlemen,

i«4 UTOPIA.

or goldsmiths, or such others who are idle, or live either by
flattery, or by contriving the arts of vain pleasure ; and on
the other hand, takes no care of those of a meaner sort, such
as ploughmen, colliers, and smiths, without whom it could
not subsist? But after the public has reaped all the ad-
vantage of their service, and they come to be oppressed with
age, sickness, and want, all their labours and the good they
have done is forgotten ; and all the recompense given them
is that they are left to die in great misery. The richer sort
are often endeavouring to bring the hire of labourers lower,
not only by their frandulent practices, but by the laws which
they procure to be made to that effect ; so that though it is
a thing most unjust in itself, to give such small rewards to
those who deserve so well of the public, yet they have given
those hardships the name and colour of justice, by procuring
laws to be made for regulating them.

Therefore I must say that, as I hope for mercy, I can
have no other notion of all the other governments that I see
or know, than that they are a conspiracy of the rich, who on
pretence of managing the public only pursue their private
ends, and devise all the ways and arts they can find out; first,
that they may, without danger, preserve all that they have so
ill acquired, and then that they may engage the poor to toil
and labour for them at as low rates as possible, and oppress
them as much as they please. And if they can but prevail
to get these contrivances established by the show of public
authority, which is considered as the representative of the
whole people, then they are accounted laws. Yet these wicked
men after they have, by a most insatiable covetousness,
divided that among themselves with which all the rest might
have been well supplied, are far from that happiness that is
enjoyed among the Utopians : for the use as well as the de-
sire of money being extinguished, much anxiety and great
occasions of mischief is cut off with it. And who does not
see that the frauds, thefts, robberies, quarrels tumults, con-

UTOPIA. 165

tentions, seditions, murders, treacheries, and witchcrafts,
which are indeed rather punished than restrained by the
severities of law, would all fall off, if money were not any
more valued by the world ? Men's fears, solicitudes, cares,
labours, and watchings, would all perish in the same moment
with the value of money : even poverty itself, for the relief of
which money seems most necessary, would fall. But, in
order tolhe apprehending this aright, take one instance.

Consider any year that has been so unfruitful that many
thousands have died of hunger ; and yet if at the end of
that year a survey was made of the granaries of all the rich
men that have hoarded up the corn, it would be found that
there was enough among them to have prevented all that
consumption of men that perished in misery ; and that if it
had been distributed among them, none would have felt
the terrible effects of that scarcity ; so easy a thing would
it be to supply all the necessities of life, if that blessed
thing called money, which is pretended to be invented for
procuring them, was not really the only thing that obstructed
their being procured !

I do not doubt but rich men are sensible of this, and
that they well know how much a greater happiness it is to
want nothing necessary than to abound in many super-
fluities, and to be rescued out of 'so much misery than to
abound with so much wealth ; and I cannot think but the
sense of every man's interest, added to the authority of
Christ's commands, who as He was infinitely wise, knew
what was best, and was not less good in discovering it to
us, would have drawn all the world over to the laws of the
Utopians, if pride, that plague of human nature, that source
of so much misery, did not hinder it ; for this vice does not
measure happiness so much by its own conveniences as
by the miseries of others ; and would not be satisfied with
being thought a goddess, if none were left that were miser-
able, over whom she might insult. Pride thinks its own

166 UTOPIA.

happiness shines the brighter by comparing it with the
misfortunes of other persons; that by displaying its own
wealth, they may feel their poverty the more sensibly.
This is that infernal serpent that creeps into the breasts of
mortals, and possesses them too much to be easily drawn
out ; and therefore I am glad that the Utopians have fallen
upon this form of government, in which I wish that all the
world could be so wise as to imitate them ; for they have
indeed laid down such a scheme and foundation of policy,
that as men live happily under it, so it is like to be of great
continuance; for they having rooted out of the minds of
their people all the seeds both of ambition and faction,
there is no danger of any commotion at home ; which alone
has been the ruin of many states, that seemed otherwise to
be well secured ; but as long as they live in peace at home,
and are governed by such good laws, the envy of all their
neighbouring princes, who have often though in vain at-
tempted their ruin, will never be able to put their state into
any commotion or disorder.

When Raphael had thus made an end of speaking,
though many things occurred to me, both concerning the
manners and laws of that people, that seemed very absurd,
as well as their way of making war, as in their notions of
religion and divine matters; together with several other
particulars, but chiefly what seethed the foundation of all
the rest, their living in common, without the use of money,
by which all nobility, magnificence, splendour, and majesty,
which, according to the common opinion, are the true
ornaments of a nation, would be quite taken away; yet
since I perceived that Raphael was weary, and was not
sure whether lie could easily bear contradiction, remem-
bering that he had taken notice of some who seemed to
think they were bound in honour to support the credit oi
their own wisdom, by finding out something to censure in

UTOl'lA.

167

ail other men's inventions, besides their own ; I only com-
mended their constitution, and the account he had given of
\\ in general ; and so taking him by the hand, carried him
to supper, and told him I would find out some other time
for examining this subject more particularly, and for dis-
coursing more copiously upon it ; and indeed I shall be
glad to embrace an opportunity of doing it. In the mean-
while, though it must be confessed that he is both a very
learned man, and a person who has obtained a great know-
ledge of the world, I cannot perfectly agree to everything
he has related; however, there are many things in the
Commonwealth of Utopia that I rather wish, than hope, to
see followed in our governments.

BACON'S

NEW ATLANTIS.

NEW ATLANTIS.

WE sailed from Peru, where we had continued by the
space of one whole year, for China and Japan, by the South
Sea, taking with us victuals for twelve months ; and had
good winds from the east, though soft and weak, for five
months' space and more. But then the wind came about,
and settled in the west for many days, so as we could make
little or no way, and were sometimes in purpose to turn
back. But then again there arose strong and great winds
from the south, with a point east ; which carried us up, for
all that \ve could do, towards the north : by which time our
victuals failed us, though we had made good spare of them.
So that finding ourselves, in the midst of the greatest wilder-
ness of waters in the world, without victual, we gave our-
selves for lost men, and prepared for death. Yet we did
lift up our hearts and voices to God above, who showeth
His wonders in the deep ; beseeching Him of his mercy, that
as in the beginning He discovered the face of the deep, and
brought forth dry land, so He would now discover land to
us, that we might not perish. And it came to pass, that the
next day about evening we saw within a kenning before us,
towards the north, as it were thick clouds, which did put us
in some hope of land : knowing how that part of the South
Sea was utterly unknown : and might have islands or conti-
that hitherto were not come to light. Wherefore we

172 A'£^ ATLANTIS.

bent our course thither, where we saw the appearance of
land, all that night : and in the dawning of next day, we
might plainly discern that it was a land flat to our sight,
and full of boscage, which made it show the more dark.
And after an hour and a half s sailing, we entered into a good
haven, being the port of a fair city. Not great indeed, but well
built, and that gave a pleasant view from the sea. And we
thinking every minute long till we were on land, came close
to the shore and offered to land. But straightways we saw
divers of the people, with bastons in their hands, as it were
forbidding us to land : yet without any cries or fierceness,
but only as warning us off, by signs that they made. Where-
upon being not a little discomfited, we were advising with
ourselves what we should do. During which time there
made forth to us a small boat, with about eight persons in
it, whereof one of them had in his hand a tipstaff of a
yellow cane, tipped at both ends with blue, who made
aboard our ship, without any show of distrust at all. And
when he saw one of our number present himself somewhat
afore the rest, he drew forth a little scroll of parchment
(somewhat yellower than our parchment, and shining like
the leaves of writing tables, but otherwise soft and flexible),
and delivered it to our foremost man. In which scroll
were written in ancient Hebrew, and in ancient Greek, and
in good Latin of the school, and in Spanish these words :
" Land ye not, none of you, and provide to be gone from this
coast within sixteen days, except you have further time given
you y meanwhile, if you want fresh water, or victual, or help
for your sick, or that your ship needeth repair, write down your
wants, and you shall have that which belongeth to mercy.''
This scroll was signed with a stamp of cherubim's wings,
not spread, but hanging downwards ; and by them a cross.
This being delivered, the officer returned, and left only a
servant with us to receive our answer. Consulting hereupon
amongst ourselves, we were much perplexed. The denial

NEW A TLANTIS. 173

of landing, and hasty warning us away, troubled us much : on
the other side, to find that the people had languages, and
were so full of humanity, did comfort us not a little. And
above all, the sign of the cross to that instrument, was to us
a great rejoicing, and as it were a certain presage of good.
Our answer was in the Spanish tongue, " That for our ship,
it was well ; for we had rather met with calms and contrai /
winds, than any tempests. For our sick, they were many,
and in very ill case ; so that if they were not permitted to
land, they ran in danger of their lives." Our other wants we
set down in particular, adding, " That we had some little store
of merchandise, which if it pleased them to deal for, it might
supply our wants, without being chargeable unto them."
We offered some reward in pistolets unto the servant, and a
piece of crimson velvet to be presented to the officer ; but
the servant took them not, nor would scarce look upon
them ; and so left us, and went back in another little boat
which was sent for him.

About three hours after we had despatched our answer
there came towards us a person (as it seemed) of a place.
He had on him a gown with wide sleeves, of a kind of water
chamolet, of an excellent azure colour, far more glossy than
ours : his under apparel was green, and so was his hat, being
in the form of a turban, daintily made, and not so huge as
the Turkish turbans ; and the locks of his hair came down
below the brims of it. A reverend man was he to behold.
He came in a boat, gilt in some part of it, with four persons
more only in that boat ; and was followed by another boat,
wherein were some twenty. When he was come within a
flight-shot of our ship, signs were made to us that we should
send forth some to meet him upon the water, which we pre-
sently did in our ship-boat, sending the principal man
amongst us save one, and four of our number with him.
When we were come within six yards' of their boat, they
called to us to stay, and not to approach farther, which we

I74 NE W A TLANT1S.

did. And thereupon the man, whom I before described,
stood up, and with a loud voice in Spanish, asked, " Are ye
Christians ? " We answered, " We were •" fearing the less,
because of the cross we had seen in the subscription. At
which answer the said person lift up his right hand towards
heaven, and drew it softly to his mouth (which is the gesture
they use, when they thank God), and then said : " If ye
will swear, all of you, by the merits of the Saviour, that ye
are no pirates ; nor have shed blood, lawfully nor unlawfully,
within forty days past; you may have license to come on
land." We said, " We were all ready to take that oath."
Whereupon one of those that were with him, being (as it
seemed) a notary, made an entry of this act. Which done,
another of the attendants of the great person, which was
with him in the same boat, after his lord had spoken a little
to him, said aloud : " My lord would have you know, that
it is not of pride, or greatness, that he cometh not aboard
your ship : but for that, in your answer, you declare that
you have many sick amongst you, he was warned by the
conservator of health of the city that he should keep a
distance." We bowed ourselves towards him, and answered :
" We were his humble servants ; and accounted for great
honour and singular humanity towards us, that which was
already clone : but hoped well, that the nature of the sick-
ness of our men was not infectious." So he returned ; and
a while after came the notary to us aboard our ship ; holding
in his hand a fruit of that country, like an orange, but of
colour between orange-tawny and scarlet : which cast a
most excellent cdour. He used it (as it seemed) for a pre-
servative against infection. He gave us our oath, " By the
name of Jesus, and His merits ::' and after told us, that the
next day by six of the clock'in the morning, we should be
sent to, and brought to the strangers' house (so he called
it), where we should be accommodated of things, both for
our whole and for our sick. So he left us ; and when wi

NEW ATLANTIS. 175

offered him some pistolets, he smiling, said, " He must not
be twice paid for one labour :" meaning (as I take it) that
he had salary sufficient of the state for his service. For
(as I after learned) they call an officer that taketh rewards
twice-paid.

The next morning early, there came to us the same officer
that came to us at first with his cane, and told us : " He
came to conduct us to the strangers' house : and that he
had prevented the hour, because we might have the wkole
day before us for our business. For (said he) if you will
follow my advice, there shall first go with me some few of
you, and see the place, and how it may be made convenient
for you : and then you may send for your sick, and the rest
of your number, which ye will bring on land." We thanked
him, and said, "That his care which he took of desolate
strangers, God would reward." And so six of us went on
land with him ; and when we were on land, he went before
us, and turned to us, and said, " He was but our servant, and
our guide." He led us through three fair streets ; and all the
way we went there were gathered some people on both
sides, standing in a row ; but in so civil a fashion, as if it had
been, not to wonder at us, but to welcome us; and divers
of them, as we passed by them, put" their arms a little abroad,
which is their gesture when they bid any welcome. The
strangers' house is a fair and spacious house, built of brick,
of somewhat a bluer colour than our brick ; and with hand-
some windows, some of glass, some of a kind of cambric
oiled. He brought us first into a fair parlour above stairs,
and then asked us, "What number of persons we were?
and how many sick ? " We answered, " We were in all
(sick and whole) one and fifty persons, whereof our
sick were seventeen." He desired us to have patience a
little, and to stay till he came back to us, which was about
an hour after; and then he led us to see the chambers
which were provided for us, being in number nineteen.

1 7 6 NEW A TLA N TIS.

They having cast it (as it seemeth) that font of those
chambers, which were better than the rest, might receive
four of the principal men of our company ; and lodge them
alone by themselves ; and the other fifteen chambers were
to lodge us, two and two together. The chambers were
handsome and cheerful chambers, and furnished civilly.
Then he led us to a long gallery, like a dorture, where he
showed us all along the one side (for the other side was but
wall and window) seventeen cells, very neat ones, having
partitions of cedar wood. Which gallery and cells, being in
all forty (many more than we needed), were instituted as an
infirmary for sick persons. And he told us with;?!, that as
any of our sick waxed well, he might be removed from his
cell to a chamber : for which purpose there were set forth
ten spare chambers, besides the number we spake of before.
This done, he brought us back to the parlour, and lifting
up his cane a little (as they do when they give any charge
or command), said to us, " Ye are to know that the custom
of the land requireth, that after this day and to-morrow
(which we give you for removing your people from your
ship), you are to keep within doors for three days. But let
it not trouble you, nor do not think yourselves restrained,
but rather left to your rest and ease. You shall want
nothing; and there are six of our people appointed to
attend you for any business you may have abroad." We
gave him thanks with all affection and respect, and said,
" God surely is manifested in this land." We offered him
also twenty pistolets; but he smiled, and only said: u What?
Twice paid!" And so he left us. Soon after our dinner
was served in ; which was right good viands, both for bread
and meat : better than . any collegiate diet that I have
known in Europe. We had also drink of three sorts, all
wholesome and good ; wine of the grape ; a drink of grain,
such as is with us our ale, but more clear ; and a kind of
cider made of a fruit of that country ; a wonderful pleasing

NEW ATLANTIS. 177

and refreshing drink. Besides, there were brought in to us
great store of those scarlet oranges for our sick; which
(they said) were an assured remedy for sickness taken at
sea. There was given us also a box of small grey or
whitish pills, which they wished our sick should take, one of
the pills every night before sleep ; which (they said) would
hasten their recovery. The next day, after that our trouble
of carriage and removing of our men and goods out^ of our
ship was somewhat settled and quiet, I thought good to call
our company together, and when they were assembled, said
unto them, " My dear friends, let us know ourselves', and
how it standeth with us. We are men cast on land, as Jonas
was out of the whale's belly, when we were as buried in the
deep ; and now we are on land, we are but between death
and life, for we are beyond both the old world and the new ;
and whether ever we shall see Europe, God only knoweth.
It is a kind of miracle hath brought us hither, and it must
be little less that shall bring us hence. Therefore in regard
of our deliverance past, and our danger present and to
come, let us look up to Goa, and every man reform his own
ways. Besides we are come here amongst a Christian
people, full of piety and humanity. Let us not bring that
confusion of face upon ourselves, as to show our vices or
un worthiness before them. Yet there is more, for they have
by commandment (though in form of courtesy) cloistered
us within these walls for three days ; who knoweth whether
it be not to take some taste of our manners and conditions?
And if they find them bad, to banish us straightways ; if
good, to give us further time. For these men that they
have given us for attendance, may withal have an eye upon
us. Therefore, for God's love, and as we love the weal of
our souls and bodies, let us so behave ourselves, as we may
be at peace with God, and may find grace in the eyes of
this people." Our company with one voice thanked me for
my good admonition, and promised me to live soberly and

I78 NEW ATLANTIS.

civilly, and without giving any the least occasion of offence.
'So we spent our three days joyfully, and without care, in
expectation what would be done with us when they were
expired. During which time, we had every hour joy of the
amendment of our sick, who thought themselves cast into
some divine pool of healing, they mended so kindly and
so fast.

The morrow after our three days were past, there came
to us a new man, that we had not seen before, clothed in
blue as the former was, save that his turban was white with a
small red cross on the top. He had also a tippet of fine linen.
At his coming in, he did bend to us a little, and put his
arms abroad. We of our parts saluted him in a very lowly
and submissive manner; as looking that from him we should
receive sentence of life or death. He desired to speak with
some few of us. Whereupon six of us only stayed, and the
rest avoided the room. He said, " I am by office governor
of this house of strangers, and by vocation I am a Christian
priest ; and therefore am come to you, to offer you my
service, both as strangers, and chiefly as Christians. Some
things I may tell you, which I think you will not be unwill-
ing to hear. The state hath given you license to stay on
land for the space of six weeks : and let it not trouble you,
if your occasions ask further time, for the law in this point
is not precise ; and I do not doubt, but myself shall be able
to obtain for you such further time as shall be convenient.
Ye shall also understand, that the strangers' house is at this
time rich, and much aforehand ; for it hath laid up revenue
these thirty-seven years : for so long it is since any stranger
arrived in this part ; and therefore take ye no care ; the
state will defray you all the time you stay. Neither shall
you stay one day the less for that. As for any merchandise
you have brought, ye shall be well used, and have your
return, either in merchandise or in gold and silver : for to
us it is all one. And if you have any other request to make.

NEW ATLANTIS. 179

hide it not ; for ye shall find we will not make your
countenance to fall by the answer ye shall receive. Only
this I must tell you, that none of you must go above a
karan (that is with them a mile and a half) from the walls
of the city, without special leave." We answered, after we
had looked a while upon one another, admiring this gracious
and parent-like usage, that we could not tell what to say,
for we wanted words to express our thanks ; and his noble
free offers left us nothing to ask. It seemed to us, that we
had before us a picture of our salvation in heaven ; for we
that were a while since in the jaws of death, were now
brought into a place where we found nothing but consola-
tions. For the commandment laid upon us, we would not
fail to obey it, though it was impossible but our hearts
should be inflamed to tread further upon this happy and
holy ground. We added, that our tongues should first
cleave to the roofs of our mouths, ere we should forget,
either this reverend person, or this whole nation, in our
prayers. We also most humbly besought him to accept of
us as his true servants, by as just a right as ever men on
earth were bounden ; laying and presenting both our
persons and all we had at his feet. He said, he was a
priest, and looked foi a priest's reward ; which was our
brotherly love, and the good of our souls and bodies. So
he went from us, not without tears of tendefness in his eyes,
and left us also confused with joy and kindness, saying
amongst ourselves, that we were come into a land of angels,
which did appear tO-US daily, and prevent us with comforts,
which we thought not of, much less expected.

The next day, about ten of the clock, the governor came
to us again, and after salutations, said familiarly, that he was
come to visit us ; and called for a chair, and sat him down ;
and we being some ten of us (the rest were of the meaner
sort, or else gone abroad), sat down with him ; and when
we were set} he began thus \ " We of this island of Bensalem

i8o NEW ATLANTIS.

(for so they called it in their language) have this : that by
means of our solitary situation, and of the laws of secrecy,
which we have for our travellers, and our rare admission of
strangers ; we know well most part of the habitable world,
and are ourselves unknown. Therefore because he that
knoweth least is fittest to ask questions, it is more reason,
for the entertainment of the time, that ye ask me questions,
than that I ask you." We answered, that we humbly
thanked him, that he would give us leave so to do. And
that we conceived by the taste we had already, that there
was no worldly thing on earth more worthy to be known
than the state of that happy land. But above all (we said)
since that we were met from the several ends of the world,
and hoped assuredly that we should meet one day in the
kingdom of heaven (for that we were both parts Christians),
we desired to know (in respect that land was so remote, and
so divided by vast and unknown seas from the land where our
Saviour walked on earth) who was the apostle of that nation,
and how it was converted to the faith ? It appeared in his
face, that he took great contentment in this our question ;
he said, " Ye knit my heart to you, by asking this question in
the first place : for it showeth that you first seek the king-
dom of heaven : and I shall gladly, and briefly, satisfy your
demand.

" About twenty years after the ascension of our Saviour it
came to pass, that there was seen by the people of Renfusa
(a city upon the eastern coast of our island, within sight,
the night was cloudy and calm), as it might be some mile
in the sea, a great pillar of light ; not sharp, but in form of
a column, or cylinder, rising from the sea, a great way up
towards heaven ; and on the top of it was seen a large
cross of light, more bright and resplendent than the body of
the pillar. Upon which so strange a spectacle, the people
of the city gathered apace together upon the sands, to
wonder ; and so after put themselves into a number of small

NEW A TLANT1S. 1 8 1

boats to go nearer to this marvellous sight. But when the
boats were come within about sixty yards of the pillar,
they found themselves all bound, and could go no further,
yet so as they might move to go about, but might not
approach nearer ; so as the boats stood all as in a theatre,
beholding this light, as an heavenly sign. It so fell out,
that there was in one of the boats one of the wise men of
the Society of Salomon's House ; which house or college, my
good brethren, is the very eye of this kingdom, who having
a while attentively and devoutly viewed and contemplated
this pillar and cross, fell down upon his face ; and then
raised himself upon his knees, and lifting up his hands to
heaven, made his prayers in this manner :

" ' Lord God of heaven and earth ; thou hast vouchsafed
of thy grace, to those of our order to know thy works of
creation, and true secrets of them ; and to discern (as far
as appertained! to the generations of men) between divine
miracles, works of Nature, works of art and impostures, and
illusions of all sorts. I do here acknowledge and testify
before this people, that the 'thing we now see before our
eyes, is thy ringer, and a true miracle. And forasmuch as
we learn in our books, that thou never workest miracles,
but to a divine and excellent end (for the laws of Nature
are thine own laws, and thou exceedtst them not but upon
great cause), we most humbly beseech thee to prosper this
great sign, and to give us the interpretation and use of it in
mercy ; which thou dost in some part secretly promise, by
sending it unto us.'

" When he had made his prayer, he presently found the
boat he was in movable and unbound; whereas all the
rest remained still fast ; and taking that for ait assurance of
leave to approach, he caused the boat to be softly and
with silence rowed towards the pillar ; but ere he came
near it, the pillar and cross of light broke up, and cast
itself abroad, as it were into a firmament yf many stars,

1 8s NEW ATLANTIS.

which also vanished soon after, and there was nothing left
to be seen but a small ark, or chest of cedar, dry and not
wet at all with water, though it swam ; and in the fore-
end of it, which was towards him, grew a small green
branch of palm ; and when the wise- man had taken it with
all reverence into his boat, it opened of itself, and there
were found in it a book and a letter, both written in fine
parchment, and wrapped in sindons of linen. The book
contained all the canonical books of the Old and New
Testament, according as you have them (for we know well
what the churches with you receive), and the Apocalypse
itself; and some other books of the New Testament, which
were not at that time written, were nevertheless in the
book. And for the letter, it was in these words :

" ' I Bartholomew, a servant of the Highest, and apostle of
Jesus Christ, was warned by an angel that appeared to me
in a vision of glory, that I should commit this ark to the
floods of the sea. Therefore I do testify and declare unto
that people where God shall ordain this ark to come to
land, that in the same day is come unto them salvation
and peace, and goodwill from the Father, and from the
Lord Jesus.'

" There was also in both these writings, as well the book
as the letter, wrought a great miracle, conform to that of
the apostles, in the original gift of tongues. For there
being at that time, in this land, Hebrews, Persians, and
Indians, besides the natives, every one read upon the book
and letter, as if they had been written in his own language.
And thus was this land saved from infidelity (as the remain
of the old world was from water) by an ark, through the
apostolical and miraculous evangelism of St. Bartholomew/''
And here he paused, and a messenger came, and called
him forth from us. So this was all that passed in that
conference.

The next .day, the same governor came again to us,

NEW A TLANTIS. 183

immediately after dinner, and excused himself, saying,
"That the day before he was called from us somewhat
abruptly, but now he would make us amends, and spend
time with us, if we held his company and -conference
agreeable." We answered, that we held it so agreeable and
pleasing to us, as we forgot both dangers past, and fears
to come, for the time we heard him speak ; and that we
thought an hour spent with him was worth years of our
former life. He bowed himself a little to us, and after we
were set again, he said, " Well, the questions are on your
part." One of our number said, after a little pause, that
there was a matter we were no less desirous to know than
fearful to ask, lest, we might presume too far. But en-
couraged by his rare humanity towards us (that could scarce
think ourselves strangers, being his vowed and professed
servants), we would take the hardness to propound it ;
humbly beseeching him, if he thought it not fit to be
answered, that he would pardon it, though he rejected it.
We said, we well observed those his words, which he
formerly spake, that this happy island, where we now stood,
was known to few, and yet knew most of the nations of the
world, which we found to be true, considering they had the
languages of Europe, and knew much of our state and
business ; and yet we in Europe (notwithstanding all the
remote discoveries and navigations of this last age) never
heard any of the least inkling or glimpse of this island.
This we found wonderful strange ; for that all nations have^
interknowledge one of another, either by voyage into foreign
parts, or by strangers that come to them j and though the
traveller into a foreign country doth commonly know more
by the eye than he that stayeth at home can by relation of the
traveller ; yet both ways suffice to make a mutual knowledge,
in some degree, on both parts. But for this island, we
never heard tell of any ship of theirs, that had been seen to
arrive upon any shore of Europe ; no, nor of either the East

or West Indies, nor yet of any ship of any other part of the
world, that had made return for them. ^^J^^et the
marvel rested not in this. For the sitjJjjHIHr (as his
lordship said) in the secret conclave oWu^rra vast sea
might cause it. But then, that they should have knowledge
of the languages, books, affairs, of those that lie such a
distance from them, it was a thing we could not tell what to
make of ; for that it seemed to us a condition and propriety
of divine powers and beings, to be hidden and unseen to
others, and yet to have others open, and as in a light to
them. At this speech the governor gave a gracious smile
and said, that we did well to ask pardon for this question
we now asked, for that it imported, as if we thought this land
a land of magicians, that sent forth spirits of the air into all
parts, to bring them news and intelligence of other countries.
It was answered by us all, in all possible humbleness, but
yet with a countenance taking knowledge, that we knew
that he spake it but merrily. That we were apt enough
to think, there was somewhat Supernatural in this island,
but yet rather as angelical than magical. But to let his
lar^ship know truly what it was that made us tender and
doubtful to ask this question, it was not any such conceit,
but because we remembered he had given a touch in his
former speech, that this land had laws of secrecy touching
strangers. To this he said, " You remember it aright ; and
therefore in that I shall say to you, I must reserve some
particulars, which it is not lawful for me to reveal, but there
will be enough left to give you satisfaction.

" You shall understand (that which perhaps you will scarce
think credible) that about three thousand years ago, or some-
what more, the navigation of the world (especially for
remote voyages) was greater than at this day. Do not
think with yourselves, that I know not how much it is
increased with you, within these threescore years ; I know it
well, and yet I say, greater then than now ; whether it was,

ME W A TLAXTIS. 185

that the example of the ark, that saved the remnant of men
from the, universal deluge, gave men confidence to adventure
upon the^waters, or what it was ; but such is the truth. The
Phoenicians, * and especially the Tynans, had great fleets ;
so had the Carthaginians their colony, which is yet farther
west. Toward the east the shipping of Egypt, and of
Palestine, was likewise great. China also, and the great
Atlantis (that you call America), which have now but junks
and canoes, abounded then in tall ships. This island (as
appeareth by faithful registers of those times) had then
fifteen hundred strong ships, of great content. Of all this
there is with you sparing memory, or none ; but we have
large knowledge thereof.

" At that time, this land was known and frequented by the
ships and vessels of all the nations before named. And (as
it comelh to pass) they had many times men of other
countries, that were/ no sailors, that came with them ; as
Persians, Chaldeans, Arabians, so as almost all nations of
might and fame resorted hither ; of whom we have some
stirps and little tribes with us at this day. And for our
own ships, they went sundry voyages, as well to your
straits, which you call the Pillars of Hercules, as to other
parts in the Atlantic and Mediterranean Seas ; as to Paguin
(which is the same with Cambalaine) and Quinzy, upon the
Oriental Seas, as far as to the borders of the East Tartary.

" At the same time, and an age after or more, the inhabit-
ants of the great Atlantis did flourish. For though the
narration and description which is made by a great man
with you, that the descendants of Neptune planted there,
and of the magnificent temple, palace, city and hill ; and
the manifold streams of goodly navigable rivers, which as so
many chains environed the same site and temple; and
the several degrees of ascent, whereby men did climb up to
the same, as if it had been a Scala Cceli ; be all poetical
and fabulous ; yet so much is true, that the said country of

i&5 ME IV A TLANTIS.

Atlantis, as well that of Pern, then called Coya, as that of
Mexico, then named Tyrambel, were mighty and proud
kingdoms, in arms, shipping, and riches ; so mighty, as at
one time, or at least within the space of ten /cars, they
both made two great expeditions ; they of Tyrambel through
the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea ; and they of Coya,
through the South Sea upon this our island ; and for the
former of these, which was into Europe, the same author
amongst you, as it seemeth, had some relation from the
Egyptian priest, whom he citeth. For assuredly, such a
thing there was. But whether it were the ancient Athenians
that had the glory of the repulse and resistance of those
forces, I can say nothing ; but certain it is there never came
back either ship or man from that voyage. Neither had
the other voyage of those of Coya upon us had better
ortune, if they had not met with enemies of greater clemency.
For the king of this island, by name Altabin, a wise man
and a great warrior, knowing well both his own strength
and that of his enemies, handled the matter so, as he cut off
their land forces from their ships, and entoiled both their
navy and their camp with a greater power than theirs, both
by sea and land; and compelled them to render themselves
without striking a stroke ; and after they were at his mercy,
contenting himself only with their oath, that they should
no more bear arms against him, dismissed them all in safety^
But the divine revenge overtook not long after those proud
enterprises. For within less than the space of one hundred
years the Great Atlantis was utterly lost and destroyed ;
not by a great earthquake, as your man saith, for that whole
tract is little subject to earthquakes, but by a particular
deluge, or inundation ; -those countries having at this day
far greater rivers, and far higher mountains to pour down
waters, than any part of the old-world. But it is true thai the
same inundation was not deep, not past forty foot, in most
places, from the ground, so that although it destroyed man

NEW ATLANTIS. 187

and beast generally, yet some few wild inhabitants of the
wood escaped. Birds also were saved by flying to the high
trees and woods. For as for men, although they had
buildings in many places higher than the depth of the
water, yet that inundation, though it were shallow, had a
long continuance, whereby they of the vale that were not
drowned perished for want of food, and other things neces-
sary. So as marvel you not at the thin population of
America, nor at the rudeness and ignorance of the people ;
for you must account your inhabitants of America as a
young people, younger a thousand years at the least than
the rest of the world, for that there was so much time
between the universal flood and their particular inundation.
For the poor remnant of human seed which remained in
their mountains, peopled the country again slowly, by little
and little, and being .simple and a savage people (not like
Noah and his sons, which was the chief family of the earth),
they were not able to leave letters, arts, and civility to their
posterity ; and having likewise in their mountainous habita-
tions been used, in respect of the extreme cold of those
regions, to clothe themselves with the skins of tigers, bears,
and great hairy goats, that they have in those parts ; when
after they came down into the valley, and found the in-
tolerable heats which are there, and knew no means of
lighter apparel, they were forced to begin the custom of
going naked, which continueth at this day. Only they take
great pride and delight in the feathers of birds, and this also
they took from those their* ancestors of the mountains, who
were invited unto it, by the infinite flight of birds, that came
up to the high grounds, while the waters stood below. So
you see, by this main accident of time, we lost our traffic
with the Americans, with whom of all others, in regard they
lay nearest to us, we had most commerce. As for the
other parts of the world, it is most manifest that in the ages
following (whether it were in respect of wars, or by a

i88 NEW ATLANTIS.

natural revolution of time) navigation did everywhere
greatly decay, and specially far voyages (the rather by the
use of galleys, and such vessels as could hardly brook the
ocean) were altogether left and omitted. So then, that
part of intercourse which could be from other nations, to
sail to us, you see how it hath long since ceased ; except
it were by some rare accident, as this of yours. But now
of the cessation of that other part of intercourse, which
might be by our sailing to other nations, I must yield you
some other cause. For I cannot say, if I shall say truly,
but our shipping, for number, strength, mariners, pilots,
and all things that appertain to navigation, is as great as
ever ; and therefore why we should sit at home, I shall now
give you an account by itself; and it will draw nearer, to
give you satisfaction, to your principal question.

"There reigned in this island, about 1,900 years ago, a
king, whose memory of all others we most adore ; not super-
stitiously, but as a divine instrument, though a mortal man :
his name was Salomona ; and we esteem him as the law-
giver of our nation. This king had a large heart, inscrutable
for good ; and was wholly bent to make his kingdom and
people happy. He therefore taking into consideration how
sufficient and substantive this land was, to maintain itself
without any aid at all of the foreigner; being 5,000 miles
in circuit, and of rare fertility of soil, in the greatest part
thereof; and rinding also the shipping of this country might
be plentifully set on work, both by fishing and by transpor-
tations from port to port, and likewise by sailing unto some
small islands that are not far from us; and are under the
crown and laws of this state ; and recalling into his memory
the happy and flourishing estate wherein this land then was,
so as it might be a thousand ways altered to the worse, but
scarce any one way to the better ; though nothing wanted
to his noble and heroical intentions, but only (as far as
human foresight might reach) to give perpetuity to that which

NEW ATLANTIS. T89

was in his time so happily established, therefore amongst
his other fundamental laws of this kingdom he did ordain
the interdicts and prohibitions which we have touching
entrance of strangers ; which at that time (though it was
after the calamity of America) was frequent; doubting
novelties and commixture of manners. It is true, the like
kw. against the admission of strangers without license is an
ancient law in the kingdom of China, and yet continued in
use. But there it is a poor thing ; and hath made them a
curious, ignorant, fearful foolish nation. But our lawgiver
made his law of another temper. For first, he hath preserved
all points of humanity, in taking order and making provision
for the relief of strangers distressed; whereof you have
tasted." At which speech (as reason was) we all rose up,
and bowed ourselves. He went on : " That king also still
desiring to join humanity and policy together ; and thinking
it against humanity, to detain strangers here against their
wills ; and against policy, that they should return, and dis-
cover their knowledge of this estate, he took this course ;
he did ordain, that of the strangers that should be permitted to
land, as many at all times might depart as many as would ; but
as many as would stay, should have very good conditions, and
means to live from the state. "Wherein he saw so far, that now
in so many ages since the prohibition, we have memory not of
one ship that ever returned, and but of thirteen persons only,
at several times, that chose to return in our bottoms. What
those few that returned may have reported abroad, I know
not. But you must think, whatsoever they have said, could
be taken where they came but for a dream. Now for our
travelling from hence into parts abroad, our lawgiver thought
fit altogether to restrain it. So is it not in China. For the
Chinese sail where they will, or can ; which showeth, that their
law of keeping out strangers is a law of pusillanimity and
fear. But this restraint of ours hath one only exception,
which is admirable \ preserving the good which cometh by

1 90 NR\V ATLANTIS.

communicating with strangers, and avoiding the hurt : and
I will now open it to you. And here I shall seem a little to
digress, but you will by-and-by find it pertinent. Ye shall
understand, my dear friends, that amongst the excellent acts
of that king, one above all hath the pre-eminence. It was
the erection and institution of an order, or society, which
we call Salomon's House; the noblest foundation, as we
think, that ever was upon the earth, and the lantern of this
kingdom. It is dedicated to the study of the works and
creatures of God. Some thL.k it beareth the founder's
name a little corrupted, as if it should be Solomon's House.
But the records write it as it is spoken. So as I take it to
be denominate of the king of the Hebrews, which is famous
with you, and no strangers to us ; for we have some parts of
his works which with you are lost; namely, that natural
history which he wrote of all plants, from the cedar of
Libanus to the moss that groweth out of the wall ; and of
all things that have life and motion. This maketh me
think that our king finding himself to symbolize, in many
things, with that king of the Hebrews, which lived many
years before him, honoured him with the title of this founda-
tion. And I am the rather induced to be of this opinion,
for that I find in ancient records, this order or society it,
sometimes called Solomon's House, and sometimes the
College of the Six Days' Works ; whereby I am satisfied that
our excellent king had learned from the Hebrews that God
had created the world, and all that therein is, within six
days : and therefore he instituted that house, for the finding
out of the true nature of all things, whereby God might have
the more glory in the workmanship of them, and men the
more fruit in their use of them, did give it also that
second name. But now to come to our present purpose.
When the king had forbidden to all his people navigation
into any part that was not under his crown, he made
nevertheless this ordinance ; that every twelve years there.

NEW ATLANTIS. 191

should be set forth out of this kingdom, two ships,
appointed to several voyages ; that in either of these ships
there should be a mission of three of the fellows or
brethren of Salomon's House, whose errand was only to
give us knowledge of the affairs and state of those countries
to which they were designed; and especially of the sciences,
arts, manufactures, and inventions of all the world ; and
withal to bring unto us books, instruments, and patterns in
every kind : that the ships, after they had knded the
brethren, should return ; and that the brethren should stay
abroad till the new mission, the ships are not otherwise
fraught than with store of victuals, and good quantity of
treasure to remain with the brethren, for the buying of
such things, and rewarding of such persons, as they should
think fit. Now for me to tell you how the vulgar sort of
mariners are contained from being discovered at land, and
how they that must be put on shore for any time, colour
themselves under the names of other nations, and to what
places these voyages have been designed ; and what places
of rendezvous are appointed for the new missions, and the
like circumstances of the practice, I may not do it, neither
is it much to your desire. But thus you see we maintain a
trade, not for gold, silver, or jewels, nor for silks, nor for
spices, nor any other commodity of matter ; but only for
God's first creature, which was light ; to have light, I say,
of the growth of all parts of the world." And when he had
said this, he was silent, and so were we all ; for indeed we
were all astonished to hear so strange things so probably
. told. And he perceiving that we were willing to say some-
what, but had it not ready, in great courtesy took us off,
and descended to ask us questions of our voyage and
fortunes, and in the end concluded that we might do well
to think with ourselves, what time of stay we would demand
of the state, and bade us not to scant ourselves ; for he would
procure such time as we desired. Whereupon we all rose

192 NK W A TLANTIS.

up and presented ourselves to kiss the skirt of his tippet,
but he would not suffer us, and so took his leave. But
when it came once amongst our people, that the state used
to offer conditions to strangers that would stay, we had
work enough to get any of our men to look to our ship,
and to keep them from going presently to the governor, to
crave conditions ; but with much ado we restrained them,
till we might agree what course to take.

We took ourselves now for freemen, seeing there was no
danger of our utter perdition, and lived most joyfully, going
abroad and seeing what was to be seen in the city and
places adjacent, within our tedder ; and obtaining acquaint-
ance with many of the city, not of the meanest quality, at
whose hands we found such humanity, and such a freedom
and desire to take strangers, as it were, into their bosom,
as was enough to make us forget all that was dear to us
in our own countries ; and continually we met with many
things, right worthy of observation and relation ; as indeed,
if there be a mirror in the world, worthy to hold men's eyes,
it is that country. One day there were two of our company
bidden to a feast of the family, as they call it ; a most
natural, pious, and reverend custom it is, showing that
nation to be compounded of all goodness. This is the
manner of it ; it is granted to any man that shall live to
see thirty persons descended of his body, alive together,
and all above three years old, to make this feast, which is
done at the cost of the state. The father of the family,
whom they call the Tirsan, two days before the feast, taketh
to him three of such friends as he liketh to choose, and is
assisted also by the governor of the city or place where the
feast is celebrated, and all the persons of the family, of
both sexes, are summoned to attend him. These two days
the Tirsan sitteth in consultation, concerning the good
estate of the family. There, if there be any discord or
suits between any of the family, they are compounded and

NEW ATLANTIS. 193

appeased. There, if any of the family be distressed or
decayed, order is taken for their relief, and competent
means to live. There, if any be subject to vice, or take
ill courses, they are reproved and censured. So likewise
direction is given touching marriages, and the courses of
life which any of them should take, with divers other the
like orders and advices. The governor assisteth to the end,
to put in execution, by his public authority, the decrees and
orders of the Tirsan, if they should be disobeyed, though
that seldom needeth ; such reverence and obedience they
give to the order of Nature. The Tirsan doth also then
ever choose one man from amongst his sons, to live in
house with him ; who is called ever after the Son of the Vine.
The reason will hereafter appear. On the feast day, the father
or Tirsan cometh forth after divine service into a large room
where the feast is celebrated; which room hath an half-
pace at the upper end. Against the wall, in the middle of
the half-pace, is a chair placed for him, with a table and
carpet before it. Over the chair is a state, made round or
oval, and it is of ivy ; an ivy somewhat whiter than ours,
like the leaf of a silver asp, but more shining ; for it is
green all winter. And the state is curiously wrought with
silver and silk of divers colours, broiding or binding in the
ivy ; and is ever of the work of some of the daughters of
the family ; and veiled over at the top, with a fine net of
silk and silver. But the substance of it is true ivy ; whereof
after it is taken down, the friends of the family are desirous
to have some leaf or sprig to keep. The Tirsan cometh
forth with all his generation or lineage, the males before him,
and the females following him ; and if there be a mother,
from whose body the whole lineage is descended, there is a
traverse placed in a loft above on the right hand of the
chair, with a privy door, and a carved window of glass,
leaded with gold and blue ; where she sitteth, but is not
seen. When the Tirsan is come forth, he sitteth down in

G

i94 NEW ATLANTIS.

the chair ; and all the lineage place themselves against the
uall, both at his back, and upon the return of the half-pace,
in order of their years, without difference of sex, and stand
upon their feet. When he is set, the room being always
full of company, but well kept and without disorder, after
some pause there cometh in from the lower end of the room
a Taratan (which is as much as an herald), and on either
side of him two young lads : whereof one carrieth a scroll of
their shining yellow parchment, and the other a cluster of
grapes of gold, with a long foot or stalk. The herald and
children are clothed with mantles of sea-water green satin ;
but the herald's mantle is streamed with gold, and hath a
train. Then the herald with three curtsies, or rather incli-
nations, cometh up as far as the half-pace, and there first
taketh into his hand the scroll. This scroll is the king's
charter, containing gift of revenue, and many privileges,
exemptions, and points of honour, granted to the father of
the family; and it is ever styled and directed, "To such an
one, our well-beloved friend and creditor," which is a title
proper only to this case. For they say, the king is debtor
to no man, but for propagation of his subjects; the seal set
to the king's charter is the king's image, embossed or
moulded in gold ; and though such charters be expedited
of course, and as of right, yet they are varied by discretion,
according to the number and dignity of the family. This
charter the herald readeth aloud ; and while it is read, the
father or Tirsan standeth up, supported by two of his sons,
such as he chooseth. Then the herald mounteth the half-
pace, and delivereth the charter into his hand : and with
that there is an acclamation, by all that are present, in their
language, which is thus mitth, " Happy are the people of
Bensalem." Then the herald taketh into his hand from the
other child the cluster of grapes, which is of gold ; both
the stalk, and the grapes. But the grapes are daintily
enamelled ; and if the males of the family be the greater

NEW ATLANTIS. 195

number, the grapes are enamelled purple, with a little sun
set on the top ; if the females, then they arc enamelled into
a greenish yellow, with a crescent on the top. The grapes
are in number as many as there are descendants of the
family. This golden cluster the herald delivereth also to
the Tirsan; who presently delivereth it over to that son
that he had formerly chosen, to be in house with him : who
beareth it before his father, as an ensign of honour, when he
goeth in public ever after; and is thereupon called the
Son of the Vine. After this ceremony ended the father or
Tirsan retireth ; and after some time cometh forth again to
dinner, where he sitteth alone under the state, as before ;
and none of his descendants sit with him, of what degree or
dignity so ever, except he hap to be of Salomon's House.
He is served only by his own children, such as are male ;
who perform unto him all service of the table upon the knee,
and the women only stand about him, leaning against the
wall. The room below his half-pace hath tables on the
sides for the guests that are bidden ; who are served with
great and comely order ; and towards the end of dinner
(which in the greatest feasts with them lasteth never above
an hour and a half) there is an hymn sung, varied according
to the invention of him that composeth it (for they have
excellent poesy), but the subject of it is always the praises
of Adam, and Noah, and Abraham ; whereof the former
two peopled the world, and the last was the father of the
faithful : concluding ever with a thanksgiving for the nativity
of our Saviour, in whose birth the births of all are only
blessed. Dinner being done, the Tirsan retireth again ; and
having withdrawn himself alone into a place, where he
maketh some private prayers, he cometh forth the third
time, to give the blessing \ with all his descendants, who
stand about him as at the first. 'Then he calleth them forth
by one and by one, by name as he pleaseth, though seldom
the order of age be inverted. The person 'that is called

0 3

196 NEW A TLANT1S.

(the table being before removed) kneeleth down before the
chair, and the father layeth his hand upon his head, or her
head, and giveth the blessing in these words : " Son of
Bensalem (or daughter of Bensalem), thy father saith it ;
the man by whom thou hast breath and life speaketh the
word ; the blessing of the everlasting Father, the Prince of
Peace, and the Holy Dove be upon thee, and make the days
of thy pilgrimage good and many." This he saith to every
of them; and that done, if there be any of his sons of
eminent merit and virtue, so they be not above two, he
calleth for them again, and saith, laying his arm over their
shoulders, they standing : " Sons, it is well you are born,
give God the praise, and persevere to the end." And
withal delivereth to either of them a jewel, made in the
figure of an ear of wheat, which they ever after wear in the
front of their turban, or hat; this done, they fall to music
and dances, and other recreations, after their manner,
for the rest of the day. This is the full order of that
feast.

By that time six or seven days were spent, I was fallen
into straight acquaintance with a merchant of that city,
whose name was Joabin. He was a Jew and circumcised ;
for they have some few stirps of Jews yet remaining among
them, whom they leave to their own religion. Which they
may the better do, because they are of a far differing
disposition from the Jews in other parts. For whereas they
hate the name of Christ, and have a secret inbred rancour
against the people amongst whom they live ; these, con-
trariwise, give unto our Saviour many high attributes, and
love the nation of Bensalem extremely. Surely this man
of whom I speak would ever acknowledge that Christ was
born of a Virgin ; and that He was more than a man ; and
he would tell how God made Him ruler of the seraphims,
which guard His throne ; and they call Him also the
Milken Way, and the Eliah of the Messiah, and many other

ftEW ATLANTIS. 197

high names, which though they be inferior to His divine
majesty, yet they are far from the language of other Jews.
And for the country of Bensalem, this man would make no
end of commending it, being desirous by tradition among
the Jews there to have it believed that the people thereof
were of the generations of Abraham, by another son, whom
they call Nachoran ; and that Moses by a secret cabala
ordained the laws of Bensalem which they now use ; and
that when the Messias should come, and sit in His throne
at Hierusalem, the King of Bensalem should sit at His feet,
whereas other kings should keep a great distance. But yet
setting aside these Jewish dreams, the man was a wise man
and learned, and of great policy, and excellently seen in the
laws and customs of that nation. Amongsl other discourses
one day I told him, I was much affected with the relation
I had from some of the company of their custom in
holding the feast of the family, for that, methought, I had
never heard of a solemnity wherein Nature did so much
preside. And because propagation of families proceedeth
from the nuptial copulation, I desired to know of him what
laws and customs they had concerning marriage, and
whether they kept marriage" well, and whether they were
tied to one wife ? For that where population is so much
affected, and such as with them it seemed to be, there is
commonly permission of plurality of wives. To this he
said : " You have reason for to commend that excellent
institution of the feast of the family ; and indeed we have
experience, that those families that are partakers of the
blessings of that feast, do flourish and prosper ever after, in
an extraordinary manner. But hear me now, and I will
tell you what I know. You shall understand that there is
not under the heavens so chaste a nation as this of
Bensalem, nor so free from all pollution or foulness. It is
the virgin of the world ; I remember, I have read in one of
your European books, of an holy hermit amongst you, that

i 98 NEW A TLA

desired to see the spirit of fornication, and there appeared
to him a little foul ugly Ethiope ; but if he had desired to
see the spirit of chastity of Bensalem, it would have appeared
to him in the likeness of a fair beautiful cherubim. For
there is nothing, amongst mortal men, more fair and admir-
able than the chaste minds of this people. Know, there-
fore, that with them there are no stews, no dissolute houses,
no courtezans, nor anything of that kind. Nay, they wonder,
with detestation, at you in Europe, which permit such
things. They say ye have put marriage out of office ; for
marriage is ordained a remedy for unlawful concupiscence ;
and natural concupiscence seemeth as a spur to marriage.
But when men have at hand a remedy, more agreeable to
their corrupt will, marriage is almost expulsed. And
therefore there are with you seen infinite men that
marry not, but choose rather a libertine and impure single
life, than to be yoked in marriage ; and many that do
marry, marry late, when the prime and strength of their
years is past. And when they do marry, what is marriage
to them but a very bargain ; wherein is sought alliance,
or portion, or reputation, with some desire (almost in-
different) of issue ; and not the faithful nuptial union of man
and wife, that was first instituted. Neither is it possible
that those that have cast away so basely so much 'of their
strength, should greatly esteem children (being of the same
matter) as chaste men do. So likewise during marriage is
the case much amended, as it ought to be if those things
were tolerated only for necessity ; no, but they remain still
as a very affront to marriage. The haunting of those
dissolute places, or resort to courtezans, are no more punished
in married men than hi bachelors. And the depraved
custom of change, and the delight in meretricious embrace-
ments (where sin is turned into art), maketh marriage a
dull thing, and a kind of imposition or tax. They hear
you defend these things, as done to avoid greater evils ; as

NEW ATLANTIS. ^

advoutries, deflowering of virgins, unnatural lust, and the
Jike. But they say, this is a preposterous wisdom ; and they
call it Lot's offer, who to save his guests from abusing,
offered his daughters ; nay, they say further, that there is
little gained in this ; for that the same vices and appetites
do still remain and abound, unlawful lust being like a
furnace, that if you stop the flames altogether it will quench,
but if you give it any vent it will rage ; as for masculine
love, they have no touch of it ; and yet there are not so
faithful and inviolate friendships in the world again as are
there, and to speak generally (as I said before) I have not
read of any such chastity in any people as theirs. And their
usual saying is that whosoever is unchaste cannot reverence
himself ; and they say that the reverence of a man's self, is,
next religion, the chiefest bridle of all vices." And when he
had said this the good Jew paused a little ; whereupon I,
far more willing to hear him speak on than to speak myself;
yet thinking it decent that upon his pause of speech I
should not be altogether silent, said only this ; that I would
say to him, as the widow of Sarepta said to Elias : " that he
was come to bring to memory our sins ; " and that I confess
the righteousness of Bensalem was greater than the
righteousness of Europe. At which speech he bowed his
head, and went on this manner : " They have also many wise
and excellent laws, touching marriage. They allow no
polygamy. They have ordained that none do intermarry,
or contract, until a month be past from their first interview.
Marriage without consent of parents they do not make void,
but they mulct it in the inheritors ; for the children of such
marriages are not admitted to inherit above a third part of
their parents' inheritance. I have read in a book of one of
your men, of a feigned commonwealth, where the married
couple are permitted, before they contract, to see one another
naked. This they dislike ; for they think it a scorn to give
a refusal after so familiar knowledge ; but because of many

200 NEW ATLANTIS.

hidden defects in men and women's bodies, they have a more
civil way; for they have near every town a couple of
pools (which they call Adam and Eve's pools), where it is
permitted to one of the friends of the man, and another of
the friends of the woman, to see them severally bathe
naked."

And as we were thus in conference, there came one that
seemed to be a messenger, in a rich huke, that spake with
the Jew; whereupon he turned to me, and said, " You will
pardon me, for I am commanded away in haste." The next
morning he came to me again, joyful as it seemed, and said,
" There is word come to the governor of the city, that one of
the fathers of Salomon's House will be here this day seven-
night ; we have seen none of them this dozen years. His
coming is in state ; but the cause of his coming is secret. I
will provide you and your fellows of a good standing to see
his entry." I thanked him, and told him I was most glad
of the news. The day being come he made his entry. He
was a man of middle stature and age, comely of person,
and had an aspect as if he pitied men. He was clothed in
a robe of fine black cloth with wide sleeves, and a cape : his
under garment was of excellent white linen down to the foot,
girt with a girdle of the same ; and a sindon or tippet of the
same about his neck. He had gloves that were curious, and
set with stone ; and shoes of peach-coloured velvet. His
neck was bare to the shoulders. His hat was like a
helmet, or Spanish montero ; and his locks curled below
it decently ; they were of colour brown. His beard was
cut round and of the same colour with his hair, somewhat
lighter. He was carried in a rich chariot, without wheels,
litter-wise, with two horses at either end, richly trapped
in blue velvet embroidered ; and two footmen on each
side in the like attire. The chariot was all of cedar,
gilt and adorned with crystal ; save that the fore-end had
panels of sapphires, set in borders of gold, and the hinder

.

NEW ATLANTA. 201

end the like of emeralds of the Peru colour. There was
also a sun of gold,, radiant upon the top, in the midst ; and
on the top before a small cherub of gold, with wings dis-
played. The chariot was covered with cloth of gold tissued
upon blue. He had before him fifty attendants, young men
all, in white satin loose coats up to the mid-leg, and stock-
ings of white silk ; and shoes of blue velvet ; and hats of
blue velvet, with fine plumes of divers colours, set round
like hat-bands. Next before the chariot went two men,
bare-headed, in linen garments down to the foot, girt, and
shoes of blue velvet, who carried the one a crosier, the other
a pastoral staff like a sheep-hook ; neither of them of metal,
but the crosier of balm- wood, the pastoral staff of cedar.
Horsemen he had none, neither before nor behind his
chariot ; as it seemeth, to avoid all tumult and trouble.
Behind his chariot went all the officers and principals of
the companies of the city. He sat alone, upon cushions, of
a kind of excellent plush, blue ; and under his foot curious
carpets of silk of divers colours, like the Persian, but far
finer. He held up his bare hand, as he went, as blessing
the people, but in silence. The street was wonderfully well
kept ; so that there was never any army had their men stand
in better battle-array than the people stood. The windows
likewise were not crowded, but every one stood in them, as
if they had been placed. When the show was passed, the
Jew said to me, " I shall not be able to attend you as I
would, in regard of some charge the city hath laid upon me
for the entertaining of this great person." Three day.s after
the Jew came to me again, and said, " Ye are happy men ;
for the father of Salomon's House taketh knowledge of your
being here, and commanded me to tell you, that he will
admit all your company to his presence, and have private
conference with one of you, that ye shall choose ; and for
this hath appointed the next day after to-morrow. And
because he meaneth to give you his blessing, he hath

io2 NEW ATLANTIS.

appointed it in the forenoon." We came at our day and
hour, and I was chosen by my fellows for the private access.
We found him in a fair chamber, richly hanged, and carpeted
under foot, without any degrees to the state ; he was set upon
a low throne richly adorned, and a rich cloth of state over
his head of blue satin embroidered. He was alone, save
that he had two pages of honour, on either hand one, finely
attired in white. His under garments were the like that we
saw him wear in the chariot ; but instead of his gown, he
had on him a mantle with a cape, of the same fine black,
fastened about him. When we came in, as we were taught,
we bowed low at our first entrance ; and when we were come
near his chair, he stood up, holding forth his hand ungloved,
and in posture of blessing ; and we every one of us stooped
down, and kissed the end of his tippet. That done, the
rest departed, and I remained. Then he warned the pages
forth of the room, and caused me to sit down beside him,
and spake to me thus in the Spanish tongue :

" God bless thee, my son ; I will give thee the greatest jewel
I have. For I will impart luito thee, for the love of God
and men, a relation of the true state of Salomon's House.
Son, to make you know the true state of Salomon's House, I
will keep this order. First, I will set forth unto you the end
of our foundation. Secondly, the preparations and instru-
ments we have for our works. Thirdly, the several employ-
ments and functions whereto our fellows are assigned. And
fourthly, the ordinances and rites which we observe.

" The end of our foundation is the knowledge of causes,
and secret motions of things ; and the enlarging of the bounds
of human empire, to the effecting of all things possible.

" The preparations and instruments are these. We have
large and deep caves of several depths ; the deepest are
sunk 600 fathoms ; and some of them are digged and made
under great hills and mountains ; so that if you reckon
together the depth of the hill, and the depth of the cave,

they are, some of them, above three miles deep. For we
find that the depth of an hill, and the depth of a cave from
the flat, is the same thing ; both remote alike from the sun
and heaven's beams, and from the open air. These caves
we call the lower region. And we use them for all coagula-
tions, indurations, refrigerations, and conservations of
bodies. We use them likewise for the imitation of natural
mines and the producing also of new artificial metals, by
compositions and materials which we use and lay there for
many years. We use them also sometimes (which may
seem strange) for curing of some diseases, and for prolonga-
tion of life, in some hermits that choose to live there, wall
accommodated of all things necessary, and indeed live very
long ; by whom also we learn many things.

" We have burials in several earths, where we put divers
cements, as the Chinese do their porcelain. But we have
them in greater variety, and some of them more fine. We
also have great variety of composts and soils, for the making
of the earth fruitful.

" We have high towers, the highest about half a mile in
height, and some of them likewise set upon high mountains,
so that the vantage of the hill with the tower, is in the
highest of them three miles at least. And these places we
call the upper region, account the air between the high
places and the low, as a middle region. We use these
towers, according to their several heights and situations, for
insulation, refrigeration, conservation, and for the view of
divers meteors — as winds, rain, snow, hail ; and some of the
fiery meteors also. And upon them, in some places, are
dwellings of hermits, whom we visit sometimes, and instruct
•what to observe.

"We have great lakes, both salt and fresh, whereof we have
use for the fish and fowl. We use them also for burials of
some natural bodies, for we find a difference in things
buried in earth, or in air below the earth, and things buried

204 NEW ATLANTIS.

in water. We have also pools, of which some do strain
fresh water out of salt, and others by art do turn fresh water
into salt. We have also some rocks in the midst of the sea,
and some bays upon the shore for some works, wherein is
required the air and vapour of the sea. We have likewise
violent streams and cataracts, which serve us for many
motions ; and likewise engines for multiplying and enforc-
ing of winds to set also on divers motions.

" We have also a number of artificial wells and fountains,
made in imitation of the natural sources and baths, as
tineted upon vitriol, sulphur, steel, brass, lead, nitre, and
other minerals ; and again, we have little wells for infusions
of many things, where the waters take the virtue quicker and
better than in vessels or basins. And amongst them we
have a water, which we call water of Paradise, being by
that we do it made very sovereign for health an<^ prolonga-
tion of life.

"We have also great and spacious houses, where we imitate
and demonstrate meteors — as snow, hail, rain, some arti-
ficial rains of bodies, and not of water, thunders, lightnings ;
also generations of bodies in air — as frogs, flies, and divers
others.

" We have also certain chambers, which we call chambers
of health, where we qualify the air as we think good and
proper for the cure of divers diseases, and preservation of
health.

" We have also fair and large baths, of several mixtures, for
the cure of diseases, and the restoring of man's body from
arefaction ; and others for the confirming of it in strength of
sinews, vital parts, and the very juice and substance of the
body.

" We have also large and various orchards and gardens,
wherein we do not so much respect beauty as variety of
ground and soil, proper for divers trees and herbs, and some
very spacious, where trees and berries are set, whereof we

NEW ATLANTIS. 205

make divers kinds of drinks, besides the vineyards. In
these we practise likewise all conclusions of grafting, and
inoculating, as well of wild-trees as fruit-trees, which pro-
duceth many effects. And we make by art, in the same
orchards and gardens, trees and flowers, to come earlier or
later than their seasons, and to come up and bear more
speedily than by their natural course they do. We make
them also by art greater much than their nature ; and their
fruit greater and sweeter, and of differing taste, smell, colour,
and figure, from their nature. And many of them we so
order, as that they become of medicinal use.

"We have also means to make divers plants rise by
mixtures of earths without seeds, and likewise to make
divers new plants, differing from the vulgar, and to make
one tree or plant turn into another.

" We have also parks, and enclosures of all sorts, of beasts
and birds ; which we use not only for view or rareness, but
likewise for dissections and trials, that thereby may take
light what may be wrought upon the body of man. Wherein
we find many strange effects : as continuing life in them,
though divers parts, which you account vital, be perished
and taken forth ; resuscitating of some that seem dead in
appearance, and the like. We try also all poisons, and
other medicines upon them, as well of chirurgery as physic.
By art likewise we make them greater or smaller than their
kind is, and contrariwise dwarf them and stay their growth ;
we make them more fruitful and bearing than their kind is,
and contrariwise barren and not generative. Also we make
them differ in colour, shape, activity, many ways. We find
means to make commixtures and copulations of divers
kinds, which have produced many new kinds, and them not
barren, as the general opinion is. We make a number of
kinds of serpents, worms, flies, fishes of putrefaction,
whereof some are advanced (in effect) to be perfect
creatures, like beasts or birds, and have sexes, and do pro-

206 NE W A TLANTIS.

pagate. Neither do we this by chance, but we know before-
hand of what matter and commixture, what kind of those
creatures will arise.

" We have also particular pools where we make trials upon
fishes, as we have said before of beasts and birds.

" We have also places for breed and generation of those
kinds of worms and flies which are of special use ; such as
are with you your silkworms and bees.

" I will not hold you long with recounting of our brew-
houses, bake-houses, and kitchens, where are made divers
drinks, breads, and meats, rare and of special effects.
Wines we- have of grapes, and drinks of other juice, of fruits,
of grains, and of roots, and of mixtures with honey, sugar,
manna, and fruits dried and decocted ; also of the tears or
wounding of trees, and of the pulp of canes. And these
drinks are of several ages, some to the age or last of forty
years. We have drinks also brewed with several herbs, and
roots, and spices; yea, with several fleshes, and white-
meats ; whereof some of the drinks are such as they are in
effect meat and drink both, so that divers, especially in age.
do desire to live with them with little or no meat or bread.
And above all we strive to have drinks of extreme thin
parts, to insinuate into the body, and yet without all biting,
sharpness, or fretting ; insomuch as some of them put upon
the back of your hand, will with a little stay pass through
to the palm, and yet taste mild to the mouth. We have
also waters, which we ripen in that fashion, as they become
nourishing, so that they are indeed excellent drinks, and
many will use no other. Bread we have of several grains,
roots, and kernels ; yea, and some of flesh, and fish, dried ;
with divers kinds of leavings and seasonings ; so that some
do extremely move appetites, some do nourish so, as divers
do live of them, without any other meat, who live very long.
So for meats, we have some of them so beaten, and made
tender, and mortified, yet without all corrupting, as a weak

NE W A TLANTIS. 207

heat of the stomach will turn them into good chilus, as well
as a strong heat would meat otherwise prepared. We have
some meats also and bread, and drinks, which taken by men,
enable them to fast long after ; and some other, that used
make the very flesh of men's bodies sensibly more hard
and tough, and their strength far greater than otherwise it
would be.

"We have dispensatories or shops of medicines j wherein
you may easily think, if we have such variety of plants,
and living creatures, more than you have in Europe
(for we know what you have), the simples, drugs, and
ingredients of medicines, must likewise be in so much the
greater variety. We have them likewise of divers ages, and
long fermentations. And for their preparations, we have
not only all manner of exquisite distillations, and separations,
and especially by gentle heats, and percolations through
divers strainers, yea, and substances ; but also exact forms
of composition, whereby they incorporate almost as they
were natural simples.

"We have also divers mechanical arts, which you have
not ; and stuffs made by them, as papers, linen, silks, tissues,
dainty works of feathers of wonderful lustre, excellent dyes,
and many others, and shops likewise as well for such as are
not brought into vulgar use amongst us, as for those that
are? For you must know, that of the things before recited,
many of them are grown into use throughout the kingdom,
but yet, if they did flow from our invention, we have of
them also for patterns and principals.

" We have also furnaces of great diversities, and that keep
great diversity of heats ; fierce a»d quick, strong and con-
stant, soft and mild, blown, quiet, dry, moist, and the like.
But above all we have heats, in imitation of the sun's and
heavenly bodies' heats, that pass divers inequalities, and as
it were orbs, progresses, and returns whereby we produce
admirable effects. Besides, we have heats of dungs, and of

208 NE W A TLANTIS.

bellies and maws of living creatures and of their bloods
and bodies, and of hays and herbs laid up moist, of lime
unquenched, and such like. Instruments also which gene-
rate heat only by motion. And farther, places for strong
insulations ; and again, places under the earth, which by
nature or art yield heat. These divers heats we use, as the
nature of the operation which we intend requireth.

«' We have also perspective-houses, where we make demon-
strations of all lights and radiations, and of all colours;
and out of things uncoloured and transparent, we can
represent unto you all several colours, not in rainbows, as it
is in gems and prisms, but of themselves single. We
represent also all multiplications of light, which we carry to
great distance, and make so sharp, as to discern small
points and lines. Also all colourations of light : all
delusions and deceits of the sight, in figures, magnitudes,
motions, colours ; all demonstrations- of shadows. We find
also divers means, yet unknown to you, of producing of light,
originally from divers bodies. We procure means of seeing
objects afar off, as in the heaven and remote places ; and
represent things near as afar off, and things afar .off as near ;
making feigned distances. We have also helps for the
sight far above spectacles and glasses in use ; we have also
glasses and means to see small and minute bodies, perfectly
and distinctly j as the shapes and colours of small flies and
worms, grains, and flaws in gems which cannot otherwise
be seen, observations in urine and blood not otherwise to
be seen. We make artificial rainbows, halos, and circles
about light. We represent also all manner of reflections,
refractions, and multiplications of visual beams of objects.

" We have also precious stones, of all kinds, many of them
of great beauty and to you unknown ; crystals likewise, and
glasses of divers kind ; and amongst them some of metals
vitrificated, and other materials, besides those of which you
make glass. Also a number of fossils, and imperfect

NEW ATLANTIS. 209

minerals, which you have not. Likewise loadstones of prodi-
gious virtue: and other rare stones, both natural and artificial.

"We have also sound-houses, where we practise and demon-
strate all sounds and their generation. We have harmony
which you have not, of quarter-sounds and lesser slides of
sounds. Divers instruments of music likewise to you
unknown, some sweeter than any you have ; with bells and
rings that are dainty and sweet. We represent small sounds
as great and deep, likewise great sounds, extenuate and
sharp ; we make divers tremblings and warblings of sounds,
which in their original are entire. We represent and imitate
all articulate sounds and letters, and the voices and notes of
beasts and birds. We have certain helps, which set to the
ear do further the hearing greatly ; we have also divers
strange and artificial echoes, reflecting the voice many times,
and as it were tossing it ; and some that give back the voice
louder than it came, some shriller and some deeper ; yea,
some rendering the voice, differing in the letters or articulate
sound from that they receive. We have all means to convey
sounds in trunks and pipes, in strange lines and distances.

"We have also perfume-houses, wherewith we join also
practices of taste. We multiply smells which may seem
strange : we imitate smells, making all smells to breathe out of
other mixtures than those that give them. We make divers
imitations of taste likewise, so that they will deceive any
man's taste. And in this house we contain also a confiture-
house, where we make all sweetmeats, dry and moist, and
divers pleasant wines, milks, broths, and salads, far in
greater variety than you have.

" We have also engine-houses, where are prepared engines
and instruments for all sorts of motions. There we imitate
and practise to make swifter motions than any you have,
either out of your muskets or any engine that you have ; and
to make them and multiply them more easily and with small
force, by wheels and other means, and to make them stronger

2io NKir ATLANTIS.

and more violent than yours are, exceeding your greatest
cannons and basilisks. We represent also ordnance and
instruments of war and engines of all kinds ; and likewise
new mixtures and compositions of gunpowder, wild-fires
burning in water and unquenchable, also fire-works of all
variety, both for pleasure and use. We imitate also flights
of birds ; we have some degrees of flying in the air. We
have ships and boats for going under water and brooking of
seas, also swimming-girdles and supporters. We have divers
curious clocks and other like motions of return, and some
perpetual motions. We imitate also motions of living
creatures by images of men, beasts, birds, fishes, and
serpents ; we have also a great number of other various
motions, strange for equality, fineness and subtilty.

" We have also a mathematical-house, where are repre-
sented all instruments, as well of geometry as astronomy,
exquisitely made.

" We have also houses of deceits of the senses, where we
represent all manner of feats of juggling, false apparitions,
impostures and illusions, and their fallacies. And surely you
will easily believe that we, that have so many things truly
natural which induce admiration, could in a world of par-
ticulars deceive the senses if we would disguise those things,
and labour to make them more miraculous. But we do hate
all impostures and lies, insomuch as we have severely for-
bidden it to all our fellows, under pain of ignominy and fines,
that they do not show any natural work or thing adorned or
swelling, but only pure as it is, and without all affectation of
strangeness.

" These are, my son, the riches of Salomon's House.

" For the several employments and offices of our fellows, we
have twelve that sail into foreign countries under the names of
other nations (for our own we conceal), who bring us the
books and abstracts, and patterns of experiments of all other
parts. These we call merchants of light

NEW ATLANTIS. 211

" We have three that collect the experiments which are in
all books. These we call deprepators.

"We have three that collect the experiments of all me-
chanical arts, and also of liberal sciences, and also of practices
which are not brought into arts. These we call mystery-
men.

" We have three that try new experiments.

"Such as themselves think good. These we call pioneers
or miners.

" We have three that draw the experiments of the former
four into titles and tables, to give the better light for the
drawing of observations and axioms out of them. These
we call compilers. We have three that bend themselves,
looking into the experiments of their fellows, and cast about
how to draw out of them things of use and practice for
man's life and knowledge, as well for works as for plain
demonstration of causes, means of natural divinations, and
the easy and clear discovery of the virtues and parts of
bodies. These we call dowry-men or benefactors.

" Then after divers meetings and consults of our whole
number, to consider of the former labours and collections,
we have three that take care out of them to direct new
experiments, of a higher light, more penetrating into Nature
than the former. These we call lamps.

" We have three others that do execute the experiment so
directed, and report them. These we call inoculators.

" Lastly, we have three that raise the former discoveries by
experiments into greater observations, axioms, and apho-
risms. These we call intrepreters of Nature.

" We have also, as you must think, novices and apprentices,
that the succession of the former employed men do not fail ;
besides a great number of servants and attendants, men and
women. And this we do also : we have consultations,
which of the inventions and experiences which we have
discovered shall be published, and which not : and take all

212 NE W A TLANTIS.

an oath of secrecy for the concealing of those which we
think fit to keep secret : though some of those we do reveaV
sometime to the state, and some not.

" For our ordinances and rites, we have two very long and
fair galleries : in one of these we place patterns and samples
of all manner of the more rare and excellent inventions : in
the other we place the statues of all principal inventors.
There we have the statue of your Columbus, that discovered
the West Indies : also the inventor of ships : your Monk
that was the inventor of ordnance and of gunpowder : the
inventor of music : the inventor of letters : the inventor of
printing : the inventor of observations of astronomy : the
inventor of works in metal : the inventor of glass : the inven-
tor of silk of the worm : the inventor of wine : the inventor
of corn and bread : the inventor of sugars ; and all these by
more certain tradition than you have. Then we have divers
inventors of our own, of excellent works ; which since you
have not seen, it were too long to make descriptions of
them ; and besides, in the right understanding of those
descriptions you might easily err. For upon every inven-
tion of value we erect a statue to the inventor, and give
him a liberal and honourable reward. These statues are
some of brass, some of marble and touchstone, some of
cedar and other special woods gilt and adorned ; some of
iron, some of silver, some of gold.

" We have certain hymns and services, which we say daily,
of laud and thanks to God for His marvellous works. And
forms of prayers, imploring His aid and blessing for the
illumination of our labours ; and turning them into good
and holy uses.

" Lastly, we have circuits or visits, of divers principal cities
of the kingdom ; where as it cometh to pass we do publish
such new profitable inventions as we think good. And we
do also declare natural divinations of diseases, plagues,
swarms of hurtful creatures, scarcity, tempest, earthquakes.

NEW ATLANTIS. 2*3

great inundations, comets, temperature of the year, and
divers other things ; and we give counsel thereupon, what
the people shall do for the prevention and remedy of
them."

And when he had said this, he stood up ; and I, as I had
been taught, knelt down ; and he laid his right hand upon
my head, and said, " God bless thee, my son, and God bless
this relation which I have made. I give thee leave to
publish it, for the good of other nations ; for we here are
in God's bosom, a land unknown." And so he left me j
having assigned a value of about two thousand ducats for
a bounty to me and my fellows. For they give great
largesses, where they come, upon all occasions.

THE REST WAS NOT PERFECTED,

CAMPANELLA'S
CI1 'Y OF THE SUN.

THE CITY OF THE SUN.

A Poetical Dialogue between a Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitallers
and a Genoese Sea-captain, his guest.

G. M. Prithee, now, tell me what happened to you during
that voyage ?

Capt. I have already told you how I wandered over the
whole earth. In the course of my journeying I came to
Taprobane, and was compelled to go ashore at a place,
where through fear of the inhabitants 1 remained in a wood.
When I stepped out of this I found myself on a large plain
immediately under the equator.

G. M. And what befell you here ?

Capt. I came upon a large crowd of men and armed
women, many of whom did not understand our language,
and they conducted me forthwith to the City of the Sun.

G. M. Tell me after what plan this city is built and how
it is governed ?

Capt. The greater part of the city is built upon a high
hill, which rises from an extensive plain, but several of its
circles extend for some distance beyond the base of the
hill, which is of such a size that the diameter of the city is
upwards of two miles, so that its circumference becomes
about seven. On account of the humped shape of the
mountain, however, the diameter of the city is really more
than if it were built on a plain.

2t£ THE CITY o£ THE stitt.

It is divided into seven rings or huge circles named from
the seven planets, and the way from one to the other of
these is by four streets and through four gates, that look
towards the four points of the compass. Furthermore, it is
so built that if the first circle were stormed, it would of
necessity entail a double amount of energy to storm the
second ; still more to storm the third ; and in each succeed-
ing case the strength and energy would have to be doubled ;
so that he who wishes to capture that city must, as it were,
storm it seven times. For my own part, however, I think
that not even the first wall could be occupied, so thick are
the earthworks and so well fortified is it with breastworks,
towers, guns and ditches.

When I had been taken through the northern gate (which
is shut with an iron door so wrought that it can be raised
and let down, and locked in easily and strongly, its pro-
jections running into the grooves of the thick posts by a
marvellous device), I saw a level space seventy paces* wide
between the first and second walls. From hence can be seen
large palaces all joined to the wall of the second circuit, in
such a manner as to appear all one palace. Arches run
on a level with the middle height of the palaces, and are
continued round the whole ring. There are galleries for
promenading upon these arches, which are supported from
beneath by thick and well-shaped columns, enclosing arcades
like peristyles, or cloisters of an abbey.

But the palaces have no entrances from below, except on
the inner or concave partition, from which one enters
directly to the lower parts of the building. The higher
parts, however, are reached by flights of marble steps, which
lead to galleries for promenading on the inside similar to
those on the outside. From these one enters the higher
rooms, which are very beautiful, and have windows on the
concave and convex partitions. These rooms are divided
* A pace was i^- yards, 1,000 paces making a mile.

THE CITY OF THE SUN. zig

from one another by richly decorated walls. The convex or
outer wall of the ring is about eight spans thick ; the
concave, three ; the intermediate walls are one, or perhaps
one and a half. Leaving this circle one gets to the second
plain, which is nearly three paces narrower than the first,
Then the first wall of the second ring is seen adorned
above and below with similar galleries for walking, and there
is on the inside of it another interior wall enclosing palaces.
It has also similar peristyles supported by columns in the
lower part, but above are excellent pictures, round the ways
into the upper houses. And so on afterwards through similar
spaces and double walls, enclosing palaces, and adorned
with galleries for walking, extending along their outer side,
and supported by columns, till the last circuit is reached,
the way being still over a level plain.

But when the two gates, that is to say, those of the out-
most and the inmost walls, hare been passed, one mounts
by means of steps so formed that an ascent is scarcely
discernible, since it proceeds in a slanting direction, and the
steps succeed one another at almost imperceptible heights.
On the top of the hill is a rather spacious plain, and in the
midst of this there rises a temple built with wondrous art.

G. M. Tell on, I pray you ! Tell on ! I am dying t© hear
more.

Capt. The temple is built in the form of a circle ; it is not
girt with walls, but stands upon thick columns, beautifully
grouped. A very large dome, built with great care in the
centre or pole, contains another small vault as it were rising
out of it, and in this is a spiracle, which is right over the
altar. There is but one altar in the middle of the temple,
and this is hedged round by columns. The temple itself is
on a space of more than three hundred and fifty paces.
Without it, arches measuring about eight paces extend
from the heads of the columns outwards, whence other
columns rise about three paces from the thick, strong and

teo THE CITY OF THE SUN.

erect wall. Between these and the former columns there
are galleries for walking, with beautiful pavements, and
in the recess of the wall, which is adorned with numerous
large doors, there are immovable seats, placed as it were
between the inside columns, supporting the temple. Portable
chairs are not wanting, many and well adorned. Nothing
is seen over the altar but a large globe, upon which
the heavenly bodies are painted, and another globe upon
which there is a representation of the earth. Furthermore,
in the vault of the dome there can be discerned representa-
tions of all the stars of heaven from the first to the sixth
magnitude, with their proper names and power to influence
terrestrial things marked in three little verses for each. There
are the poles and greater and lesser circles according to the
right latitude of the place, but these are not perfect because
there is no wall below. They seem, too, to be made in their
relation to the globes on the altar. The pavement of the
temple is bright with precious stones. Its seven golden
lamps hang always burning, and these bear the names of the
seven planets.

At the top of the building several small and beautiful cells
surround the small dome, and behind the level space above
the bands or arches of the exterior and interior columns there
•are many cells, both small and large, where the priests and
religious officers dwell to the number of forty-nine.

A revolving flag projects from the smaller dome, and this
shows in what quarter the wind is. The flag is marked with
figures up to thirty-six, and the priests know what sort of
year the different kinds of winds bring and what will be the
changes of weather on land and sea. Furthermore, under
the flag a book is always kept written with letters of gold.

G. M. I pray yon, worthy hero, explain to me their
whole system of government ; for I am anxious to hear it.

Capt. The great ruler among them is a priest whom they
call by the name HOH, though we should call him Meta-

THE CITY OF THE SUN. 221

physic. He is head over all, in temporal and spiritual
matters, and all business and lawsuits are settled by him, as
the supreme authority. Three princes of equal power — viz.,
Pon, Sin and Mor — assist him, and these in our tongue we
should call POWER, WISDOM and LOVE. To POWER belongs
the care of all matters relating to war and peace. He attends
to the military arts, and, next to Hoh, he is ruler in every
affair of a warlike nature. He governs the military ma-
gistrates and the soldiers, and has the management of the
munitions, the fortifications, the storming of places, the
implements of war, the armories, the smiths and workmen
connected with matters of this sort.

But WISDOM is the ruler of the liberal arts, of mechanics,
of all sciences with their magistrates and doctors, and of the
discipline of the schools. As many doctors as there are, are
under his control. There is one doctor who is called
Astrologus ; a second, Cosmographus ; a third, Arithmeticus ;
a fourth, Geometra ; a fifth, Historiographus ; a sixth, Poeta ;
a seventh, Logicus ; an eighth, Rhetor ; a ninth, Grammati-
cus ; a tenth, Medicus ; an eleventh, Physiologus ; a twelfth,
Politicus \ a thirteenth, Moralis. They have but one book,
which they call Wisdom, and in it all the sciences are written
with conciseness and marvellous fluency of expression. This
they read to the people after the custom of the Pythagoreans.
It is Wisdom who causes the exterior and interior, the higher
and lower walls of the city to be adorned with the finest
pictures, and to have all the sciences painted upon them in
an admirable manner. On the walls of the temple and on
the dome, which is let down when the priest gives an address,
lest the sounds of his voice, being scattered, should fly away
from his audience, there are pictures of stars in their different
magnitudes, with the powers and motions of each, expressed
separately in three little verses.

On the interior wall of the first circuit all the mathematical
figures are conspicuously painted — figures more in number

222 THE CITY OF THE SUN.

than Archimedes or Euclid discovered, marked symmetrically,
and with the explanation of them neatly written and contained
each in a little verse. There are definitions and propositions,
&c. &c. On th« exterior convex wall is first an immense
drawing of the whole earth, given at one view. Following
upon this, there are tablets setting forth for every separate
country the customs both public and private, the laws, the
origins and the power of the inhabitants ; and the alphabets
the different people use can be seen above that of the City
of the Sun.

On the inside of the second circuit, that is to say of the
second ring of buildings, paintings of all kinds of precious
and common stones, of minerals and metals, are seen ; and a
little piece of the metal itself is also there with an apposite
explanation in two small verses for each metal or stone. On
the outside are marked all the seas, rivers, lakes and streams
which are on the face of the earth ; as are also the wines %nd
the oils and the different liquids, with the sources from which
the last are extracted, their qualities and strength. There
are also vessels built into the wall above the arches, and these
are full of liquids from one to three hundred years old, which
cure all diseases. Hail and snow, storms and thunder, and
whatever else takes place in the air, are represented with
suitable figures and little verses. The inhabitants even have
the art of representing in stone all the phenomena of the air,
such as the wind, rain, thunder, the rainbow, &c.

On the interior of the third circuit all the different families
of trees and herbs are depicted, and there is a live specimen
of each plant in earthenware vessels placed upon the outer
partition of the arches. With the specimens there are ex-
planations as to where they were first found, what are their
powers and natures, and resemblances to celestial things and
to metals : to parts of the human body and to things in the
sea, and also as to their uses in medicine, &c. On the
ex.terior wall are all the races of fishs found in rivers, lakes

THE CITY OF THE SUX. 223

and seas, and their habits and values, and ways of breeding,
training and living, the purposes for which they exist in the
world, and their uses to man. Further, their resemblances to
celestial and terrestrial things, produced both by nature and
art, are so given that I was astonished when I saw a fish which
was like a bishop, one like a chain, another like a garment,
a fourth like a nail, a fifth like a star, and others like images
of those things existing among us, the relation in each case
being completely manifest. There are sea-urchins to be
seen, and the purple shell-fish and mussels ; and whatever the
watery world possesses worthy of being known is there fully
shown in marvellous characfers of painting and drawing.

On the fourth interior wall all the different kinds of birds
are painted, with their natures, sizes, customs, colours, manner
of living, &c. ; and the only real phoenix is possessed by the
inhabitants of this city. On the exterior are shown all the
races of creeping animals, serpents, dragons and worms ; the
insects, the flies, gnats, beetles, &c., in their different states,
strength, venoms and uses, and a great deal more than you
or I can think of.

On the fifth interior they have all the larger animals of
the earth, as many in number as would astonish you. We
indeed know not the thousandth part of them, for on the
exterior wall also a great many of immense size are also
portrayed. To be sure, of horses alone, how great a number
of breeds there is and how beautiful are the forms there
cleverly displayed !

On the sixth interior are painted aH the mechanical arts,
with the several instruments for each and their manner of
use among different nations. Alongside the dignity of such
is placed, and their several inventors are named. But on the
exterior all the inventors in science, in warfare, and in law are
represented. There I saw Moses, Osiris, Jupiter, Mercury,
Lycurgus. Pompilius, Pythagoras, Zamolxis, Solon, Charondas,
Phoroneus, with very many others. They even have Mahomet,

224 THR CITY OF THE

whom nevertheless they hate as a false and sordid legislator.
In the most dignified position I saw a representation of
Jesus Christ and of the twelve Apostles, whom they consider
very worthy and hold to be great. Of the representations of
men, I perceived Csesar, Alexander, Pyrrhus and Hannibal
in the highest place ; and other very renowned heroes in
peace and war, especially Roman heroes, were painted in
lower positions, under the galleries. And when I asked
with astonishment whence they had obtained our history,
they told me that among them there was a knowledge of all
languages, and that by perseverance they continually send
explorers and ambassadors over the whole earth, who learn
thoroughly the customs, forces, rule and histories of the
nations, bad and good alike. These they apply all to their
own republic, and with this they are well pleased. I learnt
that cannon and typography were invented by the Chinese
before we knew of them. There are magistrates, who an-
nounce the meaning of the pictures, and boys are accustomed
to learn all the sciences, without toil and as if for pleasure ;
but in the way of history only until they are ten years old.

LOVE is foremost in attending to the charge of the race.
He sees that men and women are so joined together, that
they bring forth the best offspring. Indeed, they laugh at
us who exhibit a studious care for our breed of horses and
dogs, but neglect the breeding of human beings. Thus the
education of the children is under his rule. So also is the
medicine that is sold, the sowing and collecting of fruits of
the earth and of trees, agriculture, pasturage, the preparations
for the months, the cooking arrangements, and whatever has
any reference to food, clothing, and the intercourse of the
sexes. Love himself is ruler, but there are many male and
female magistrates dedicated to these arts.

Metaphysic then with these three rulers manage all the
above-named matters, and even by himself alone nothing
is done ; all business is discharged by the four together,

THE CITY OF THE SUN. 223

but in whatever Metaphysic inclines to the rest are sure to
agree.

G. M. Tell me, please, of the magistrates, their services
and duties, of the education and mode of living, whether the
government is a monarchy, a republic, or an aristocracy.

Capt. This race of men came there from India, flying
from the sword of the Magi, a race of plunderers and tyrants
who laid waste their country, and they determined to lead a
philosophic life in fellowship with one another. Although
the community of wives is not instituted among the other
inhabitants of their province, among them it is in use after
this manner. All things are common with them, and their
dispensation is by the authority of the magistrates. Arts and
honours and pleasures are common, and are held in such a
manner that no one can appropriate anything to himself.

They say that all private property is acquired and im-
proved for the reason that each one of us by himself has ^
his own home and wife and children. From this self-love H
springs. For when we raise a son to riches and dignities, **
and leave an heir to much wealth, we become either ready
to grasp at the property of the state, if in any case fear r
should be removed from the power which belongs to riches
and rank ; or avaricious, crafty, and hypocritical, if any one is
of slender purse, little strength, and mean ancestry. But
when we have taken away self-love, there remains only love
for the state.

G. M. Under such circumstances no one will be willing
to labour, while he expects others to work, on the fruit of
whose labours he can live, as Aristotle argues against Plato.

Capt. \ do not know how to deal with that argument,
but I declare to you that they burn with so great a love for
their fatherland, as I could scarcely have believed possible;
and indeed with much more than the histories tell us be-
longed to the Romans, who fell willingly for their country,
inasmuch as they have to a greater extent, surrendered

226 THE CITY OF THE SUN.

their private proverty. I think truly that the friars and
monks and clergy of our country, if they were not weakened
by love for their kindred and friends, or by the ambition to
rise to higher dignities, would be less fond of property, and
more imbued with a spirit of charity towards all, as it was
in the time of the Apostles, and is now in a great many
cases.

G. M. St. Augustine may say that, but I say that among
this race of men, friendship is worth nothing; since they have
not the chance of conferring mutual benefits on one another.

Capt. Nay, indeed.* For it is worth the trouble to see
that no one can receive gifts from another. Whatever is
necessary they have, they receive it from the community,
and the magistrate takes care that no one receives more than
he deserves* Yet nothing necessary is denied to any one.
Friendship is recognized among them in war, in infirmity, in
the art contests, by which means they aid one another
mutually by teaching. Sometimes they improve themselves
mutually with praises, with conversation, with actions and
out of the things they need. All those of the same age call
one another brothers. They call all over twenty-two years t>f
age, fathers ; those who are less than tvyenty-two are named
sons. Moreover, the magistrates govern well, so that no
one in the fraternity can do injury to another.

G. M. And how ?

Capt. As many names of virtues as there are amongst us,
so many magistrates there are among them. There is a
magistrate who is named Magnanimity, another Fortitude, a
third Chastity, a fourth Liberality, a fifth Criminal and Civil
Justice, a sixth Comfort, a seventh Truth, an eighth Kind-
ness, a tenth Gratitude, an eleventh Cheerfulness, a twelfth
Exercise, a thirteenth* Sobriety, &c. They are elected to
duties of that kind, each one to that duty for excellence in
which he is known from boyhood to be most suitable.
Wherefore among them neither robbery nor clever murders,

THE CITY OF THE SUN. 227

nor lewdness, incest, adultery, or other crimes of which we
accuse one another, can be found. They accuse themselvef
of ingratitude and malignity when any one denies a lawful
satisfaction to another, of indolence, of sadness, of anger,
of scurrility, of slander, and of lying, which curseful thing
they thoroughly hate. Accused persons undergoing punish-
ment are deprived of the common table, and other honours,
until the judge thinks that they agree with their correction.

G. M. Tell me the manner in which the magistrates are
chosen.

Capt. You would not riglitly understand this, unless you
first learnt their manner of living. That you may know
then, men and women wear the same kind of garment,
suited for war. The women wear the toga below the knee,
but the men above. And both sexes are instructed in all
the arts together. When this has been done as a start, and
before their third year, the boys learn the language and the
alphabet on the walls by walking round them. They have
four leaders, and four elders, the first to direct them, the
second to teach them, and these are men approved beyond
all others. After some time they exercise themselves with
gymnastics, running, quoits, aud other games, by means of
which all their muscles are strengthened alike. Their feet
are always bare, and so are their heads as far as the seventh
ring. Afterwards they lead them to the offices of the trades,
such as shoemaking, cooking, metal-working, carpentry,
painting, &c. In order to find out the bent of the genius
of each one, after their seventh year, when they have already
gone through the mathematics on the walls, they take them
to the readings of all the sciences ; there are four lectures
at each reading, and in the course of four hours the four
in their order explain everything.

For some take physical exercise or busy themselves with
public services or functions, others apply themselves to read-
ing. Leaving these studies all are devoted to the more

H 2

2*8 77/7: Ciry OF THE SUN.

abstruse subjects, to mathematics, to medicine, and to other
sciences. There is continual debate and studied argument
amongst them, and after a time they become magistrates of
those sciences or mechanical arts in which they are the most
proficient ; for every one follows the ophmm of his leader
and judge, and goes out to the plains to the works of the
field, and for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the
pasturage of the dumb animals. And they consider him the
more noble and renowned who has dedicated himself to the
study of the most arts and knows how to practise them wisely.
Wherefore they laugh at us in that we consider our workmen
ignoble, and hold those to be noble who have mastered no
pursuit ; but live in ease, and are so many slaves given over
to their own pleasure and lasciviousness ; and thus as it were
from a school of vices so many idle and wicked fellows go
forth for the ruin of the state.

The rest of the officials, however, are chosen by the four
chiefs, Hoh, Pon, Sin and Mor, ? nd by the teachers of that
art over which they are fit to preside. And these teachers
know well who is most suited for rule. Certain men
are proposed by the magistrates in council, they themselves
not seeking to become candidates, and he opposes who
knows anything against those brought forward for election, or
if not, speaks in favour of them. But no one attains to the
dignity of Hoh except him who knows the histories of the
nations, and their customs and sacrifices and laws, and their
form of government, whether a republic or a monarchy. He
must also know the names of the lawgivers and the inventors
in science, and the laws and the history of the earth and the
heavenly bodies. They think it also necessary that he should
understand all the mechanical arts, the physical sciences,
astrology and mathematics. (Nearly every two days they
teach our mechanical art. They are not allowed to overwork
themselves, but frequent practice and the paintings render
learning easy to them. Not too much care is given to the

THE CITY Of THE StflV. 229

cultivation of languages, as they have a goodly number of
interpreters who are grammarians in the state.) But beyond
everything else it is necessary that Hoh should understand
metaphysics and theology ; that he should know thoroughly
the derivations, foundations and demonstrations of all the
arts and sciences ; the likeness and difference of things ;
necessity, fate, and the harmonies of the universe ; power,
wisdom, and the love of things and of God ; the stages of
life and its symbols ; everything relating to the heavens, the
earth and the sea ; and the ideas of God, as much as mortal
man can know of Him. He must also be well read in the
Prophets and in astrology. And thus they know long before-
hand who will be Hoh. He is not chosen to so great a
dignity unless he has attained his thirty-fifth year. And this
office is perpetual, because it is not known who may be too
wise for it or who too skilled in ruling.

G. M. Who indeed can be so wise ? If even any one has
a knowledge of the sciences it seems that he must be un-
skilled in ruling.

Capt. This very question I asked them and they replied
thus : " We, indeed, are more certain that such a very learned
man has the knowledge of governing, than you who place
ignorant persons in authority, and consider them suitable
merely because they have sprung from rulers or have been
chosen by a powerful faction. But our Hoh, a man really the
most capable to rule, is for all that never cruel nor wicked,
nor a tyrant, inasmuch as he possesses so much wisdom.
This, moreover, is not unknown to you, that the same argu-
ment cannot apply among you, when you consider that maa
the most learned who knows most of grammar, or logic, or of
Aristotle or any other author. For such knowledge as this
of yours much servile labour and memory work is required,
so that a man is rendered unskilful ; since he has contem-
plated nothing but the words of books and has given his
mind with useless result to the consideration of thr dead

230 THE CITY OF THE SUN.

signs of things. Hence he knows not in what way God
rules the universe, nor the ways and customs of Nature and
the nations. Wherefore he is not equal to our HOH. For
that one cannot know so many arts and sciences thoroughly,
who is not esteemed for skilled ingenuity, very apt at all
things, and therefore at ruling especially. This also is
plain to us that he who knows only one science, does not
really know either that or the others, and he who is suited
for only one science and has gathered his knowledge from
books, is unlearned and unskilled. But this is not the
case with intellects prompt and expert in every branch of
knowledge and suitable for the consideration of natural
objects, as it is necessary that our HOH should be. Besides
in our state the sciences are taught with a facility (as you
have seen) by which more scholars are turned out by us in
one year than by you in ten, or even fifteen. Make trial, I
pray you, of these boys." In this matter I was struck with
astonishment at their truthful discourse and at the trial of
their boys, who did not understand my language well.
Indeed it is necessary that three of them should be skilled in
our tongue, three in Arabic, three in Polish, and three in
each of the other languages, and no recreation is allowed
them unless they become more learned. For that they go
out to the plain for the sake of running about and hurling
arrows and lances, and of firing harquebuses, and for the
sake of hunting the wild animals and getting a knowledge
of plants and stones, and agriculture and pasturage ; some-
times the band of boys does one thing, sometimes another.

They do not consider it necessary that the three rulers
assisting HOH should know other than the arts having
reference to their rule, and so they have only a historical
knowledge of the arts which are common to all. But their
own they know well, to which certainly one is dedicated
more than another. Thus POWER is the most learned in the
equestrian art. in marshalling the army, in marking out of

THE CITY ot- TiiE stiti. 231

camps, in the manufacture of every kind of weapon and of
warlike machines, in planning stratagems, and in every affair
of a military nature. And for these reasons, they consider
it necessary thattl ese chiefs should have been philosophers,
historians, politicians, and physicists. Concerning the other
two triumvirs, understand remarks similar to those I have
made about POWER.

G. M. \ really wish that you would recount all their
public duties, and would distinguish between them, and also
that you would tell clearly how they are all taught in
common.

Capt. They have dwellings in common and dormitories,
and couches and other necessaries. But at the end of every
six months they are separated by the masters. Some shall
sleep in this ring, some in another ; some in the first apart-
ment, and some in the second ; and these apartments are
marked by means of the alphabet on the lintel. There are
occupations, mechanical and theoretical, common to both
men and women, with this difference, that the occupations
which require more hard work, and walking a long distance,
are practised by men, such as ploughing, sowing, gathering
the fruits, working at the threshing-floor, and perchance at
the vintage. But it is customary to choose women for
milking the cows, and for making cheese. In like manner,
they go to the gardens near to the outskirts of the city
both for collecting the plants and for cultivating them. In
fact, all sedentary and stationary pursuits are practised by
the women, such as weaving, spinning, sewing, cutting the
hair, shaving, dispensing medicines, and making all kinds
of garments. They are, however, excluded from working
in wood and the manufacture of arms. If a woman is fit to
paint, she is not prevented from doing so ; nevertheless,
music is given over to the women alone, because they
please the more, and of a truth to boys also. But the
women have not the practice of the drum on(J the horn.

232 THE CITY OF THE SUN.

And they prepare their feasts and arrange the tables in the
following manner. It is the peculiar work of the boys and
girls under twenty to wait at the tables. In every ring
there are the suitable kitchens, barns, and stores of utensils
for eating and drinking, and over every department an old
man and an old woman preside. These two have at once
the command of those who serve, and the power of chastis-
ing, or causing to be chastised, those who are negligent or
disobedient ; and they also examine and mark each one, both
male and female, who excels in his or her duties.

All the young people wait upon the older ones who have
passed the age of forty, and in the evening when they go to
sleep the master and mistress command that those should
be sent to work in the morning, upon whom in succession
the duty falls, one or two to separate apartments. The
young people, however, wait upon one another, and that
alas ! with some unwillingness. They have first and second
tables, and on both sides there are seats. On one side sit
the women, on the other the men ; and as in the refectories
of the monks, there is no noise. While they are eating a
young man reads a book from a platform, intoning distinctly
and sonorously, and often the magistrates question them
upon the more important parts of the reading. And truly
it is pleasant to observe in what manner these young people,
so beautiful and clothed in garments so suitable, attend to
them, and to see at the same time so many friends, brothers,
sons, fathers and mothers all in their turn living together
with so much honesty, propriety and love. So each one is
given a napkin, a plate, fish, and a dish of food. It is the
duty of the medical officers to tell the cooks what repasts
shall be prepared on each day, and what food for the old,
what for the young, and what for the sick. The magistrates
receive the full-grown and fatter portion, and they from
their share always distribute something to the boys at the
table who have shown themselves more studious in the

THE CITY OF THE SUN. 233

morning at the lectures and debates concerning wisdom
and arms. And this is held to be one of the most distin-
guished honours. For six days they ordain to sing with
music at table. Only a few, however, sing ; or there is one
voice accompanying the lute and one for each other instru-
ment. And when all alike in service join their hands,
nothing is found to be wanting. The old men placed at the
head of the cooking business and of the refectories of the
servants praise the cleanliness of the streets, the houses, the
vessels, the garments, the workshops and the warehouses.

They wear white undergarments to which adheres a
covering, which is at once coat and legging, without
wrinkles. The borders of the fastenings are furnished with
globular buttons, extended round and caught up here and
there by chains. The coverings of the legs descend to the
shoes and are continued even to the heels. Then they
cover the feet with large socks, or as it were half-buskins
fastened by buckles, over which they wear a half-boot, and
besides, as I have already said, they are clothed with a toga.
And so aptly fitting are the garments, that when the toga is
destroyed, the different parts of the whole body are straight-
way discerned, no part being concealed. They change their
clothes for different ones four times in the year, that is
when the sun enters respectively the constellations Aries,
Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, and according to the circum-
stances and necessity as decided by the officer of health.
The keepers of clothes for the different, rings are wont to
distribute them, and it is marvellous that they have at the
same time as many garments as there is need for, some heavy
and some slight, according to the weather. They all use
white clothing, and this is washed in each month with lye
or soap, as are also the workshops of the lower trades, the
kitchens, the pantries, the barns, the store-houses, the
armories, the refectories and the baths. Moreover, the
clothes are washed at the pillars of the peristyles, and the

OP" THE SUN.

water is brought down by means of canals which are con-
tinued as sewers. In every street of the different rings
there are suitable fountains, which send forth their water by
means of canals, the water being drawn up from nearly the
bottom of the mountain by the sole movement of a cleverly
contrived handle. There is water in fountains and in
cisterns, whither the rain-water collected from the roofs of
the houses is brought- trough pipes full of sand. They
wash their bodies often, according as the doctor and master
command. All the mechanical arts are practised under the
peristyles, but the speculative are carried on above in the
walking galleries and ramparts where are the more splendid
paintings, but the more sacred ones are taught in the
temple. In the halls and wings of the rings there are solar
time-pieces and bells, and hands by which the hours and
seasons are marked off.

G. M. Tell me about their children.

Capt. When their women have brought forth children,
they suckle and rear them in temples set apart for all.
They give milk for two years or more as the physician
orders. After that time the weaned child is given into the
charge of the mistresses, if it is a female, arid to the masters,
if it is a male. And then with other young children they
are pleasantly instructed in the alphabet, and in the know-
ledge of the pictures, and in running, walking and wrestling ;
also in the historical drawings, and in languages ; and they
are adorned with a suitable garment of different colours.
After their sixth year they are taught natural science, and
then the mechanical sciences. The men who are weak in
intellect are sent to farms, and when they have become more
proficient some of them are received into the state. And
those of the same age and born under the same constel-
Jatiori are especially like one another in strength and in
appearance, and hence arises much lasting concord in the
state, these men honouring one another with mutual love

THE CITY OF THE SUM. a$5

and help. Names are given to them by Metaphysicus, and
that not by chance but designedly, and according to eacr
one's peculiarity, as was the custom among the ancient
Romans. Wherefore one is called Beautiful {Pulchtr\
another the Big-nosed (Naso), another the Fat-legged
(Cranipes), another Crooked (Torvus\ another Lean
(Macer\ and so on. But when they have become very
skilled in their professions and done any great deed in war
or in time of peace, a cognomen from art is given to them,
such as Beautiful, the great painter (Pulcher, Pictor
Magnus), the golden one (Aureus\ the excellent one
{Excellent}, or the strong (Strenuus} ; or from their deeds,
such as Naso the Brave (Nason Fortis), or the cunning, 01
the great, or very great conqueror ; or from the enemy any
one has overcome, Africanus, Asiaticus, Etruscus; or if
any one has overcome Manfred or Tortelius, he is called
Macer Manfred or Tortelius, and so on. All these cogno-
mens are added by the higher magistrates, and very often
with a crown suitable to the deed or art, and with the
flourish of music. For gold and silver is reckoned of little
value among them except as material for their vessels and
ornaments, which are common to all.

G. M. Tell me, I pray you, is there no jealousy among
them or disappointment to that one who has not been elected
to a magistracy, or to any other dignity to which he aspires ?

Capt. Certainly not. For no one wants either necessaries
or luxuries. Moreover, the race is managed for the good of
the commonwealth and not of private individuals, and the
magistrates must be obeyed. They deny what we hold — viz.,
that it is natural to man to recognize his offspring and to
educate them, and to use his wife and house and
children as his own. For they say that children are bred
for the preservation of the species and not for individual
pleasure, as St. Thomas also asserts. Therefore the breed-
ing of children has reference to the common vyealth and not

236 THE CITY OF THE SUN.

to individuals, except in so far as they are constituents of the
commonwealth. And since individuals for the most part
bring forth children wrongly and educate them wrongly, they
consider that they remove destruction from the state, and
therefore, for this reason, with most sacred fear, they commit
the education of the children, who as it were are the element
of the republic, to the care of magistrates ; for the safety of
the community is not that of a few. And thus they dis-
tribute male and female breeders of the best natures accord-
ing to philosophical rules. Plato thinks that this distribution
ought to be made by lot, lest some men seeing that they are
kept away from the beautiful women, should rise up with
anger and hatred against the magistrates; and he thinks
further that those who do not deserve cohabitation with the
more beautiful women, should be deceived whilst the lots
are being led out of the city by the magistrates, so that at
all times the women who are suitable should fall to their
lot, not those whom they desire. This shrewdness, however,
is not necessary among the inhabitants of the City of the
Sun. For with them deformity is unknown. When the
women are exercised they get a clear complexion, and
become strong of limb, tall and agile, and with them beauty
consists in tallness and strength. Therefore, if any woman
dyes her face, so that it may become beautiful, or uses high-
heeled boots so that she may appear tall, or garments with
trains to cover her wooden shoes, she is condemned to capital
punishment But if the women should even desire them,
they have no facility for doing these things. For who
indeed would give them this facility? Further, they assert
that among us abuses of this kind arise from the leisure
and sloth of women. By these means they lose their colour
and have pale complexions, and become feeble and small.
For this reason they are without proper complexions, use
high sandals, and become beautiful not from strength, but
from slothful tenderness. And thus they ruin their

THE CITY OF THE SUN. 237

tempers and natures, and consequently those of their off-
spring. Furthermore, if at any time a man is taken captive
with ardent love fora certain woman, the two are allowed to
converse and joke together, and to give one another garlands
of flowers or leaves, and to make verses. But if the race is
endangered, by no means is further union between them
permitted. Moreover, the love born of eager desire is not
known among them ; only that born of friendship.

Domestic affairs and partnerships are of little account,
because, excepting the sign of honour, each one receives
what he is in need of. To the heroes and heroines of the
republic, it is customary to give the pleasing gifts of
honour, beautiful wreaths, sweet food or splendid clothes,
while they are feasting. In the daytime all use white
garments within the city, but at night or outside the city
they use red garments either of wool or silk. They hate
black as they do dung, and therefore they dislike the Japa-
nese, who are fond of black. Pride they consider the most
execrable vice, and one who acts proudly is chastised with
the most ruthless correction. Wherefore no one thinks it
lowering to wait at table or to work in the kitchen or fields.
All work they call discipline, and thus they say that it is
honourable to go on foot, to do any act of nature, to see with
the eye, and to speak with the tongue ; and when there is need,
they distinguish philosophically between tears and spittle.

Every man who, when he is told off to work, does his
duty, is considered very honourable. It is not the
custom to keep slaves. For they are enough, and more
than enough, for themselves. But with us, alas ! it is not
so. In Naples there exists seventy thousand souls, and
out of these scarcely ten or fifteen thousand do any
work, and they are always lean from overwork and are
getting weaker every day. The rest become a prey to
idleness, avarice, ill-health, lasciviousness, usury and other
vices, and contaminate and corrupt very many families by

238 THE CITY OF THE SUN.

holding them in servitude for their own use, by keeping
them in poverty and slavishness, and by imparting to them
their own vices. Therefore public slavery ruins them ; useful
works, in the field, in military service and in arts, except
those which are debasing, are not cultivated, the few who do
practise them doing so with much aversion. But in the City
of the Sun, while duty and work is distributed among aH, it
only falls to each one to work for about four hours every
day. The remaining hours are spent in learning joyously,
in debating, in reading, in reciting, in writing, in walking, in
exercising the mind and body, and with play. They allow
no game which is played while sitting, neither the single
die nor dice, nor chess, nor others like these. But they
play with the ball, with the sack, with the hoop, with wrest-
ling, with hurling at the stake. They say, moreover, that
grinding poverty renders men worthless, cunning, sulky,
thievish, insidious, vagabonds, liars, false witnesses, &c. ; and
that wealth makes them insolent, proud, ignorant, traitors,
assumers of what they know not, deceivers, boasters, wanf
ing in affection, slanderers, &c. But with them all the rich
and poor together make up the community. They are rich
because they want nothing, poor because they possess
nothing; and consequently they are not slaves to circum-
stances, but circumstances serve them. And on this point
they strongly recommend the religion of the Christians, and
especially the life of the Apostles.

G. M. This seems excellent and sacred, but the commu-
nity of women is a thing too difficult to attain. The holy
Roman Clement says that wives ought to be common in
accordance with the apostolic institution, and praises Plato
and Socrates, who thus teach, but the Glossary interprets this
community with regard to obedience. And Tertullian agrees
with the Glossary, that the first Christians had everything
in common except wives

Capt. These things I know little of. But this I saw

THE CITY OF THE SUN. 239

among the inhabitants of the City of the Sun that they did
not make this exception. And they defend themselves by
the opinion of Socrates, of Cato, of Plato, and of St. Clement,
but, as you say, they misunderstand the opinions of these
thinkers. And the inhabitants of the solar city ascribe this
to their want of education, since they are by no means
learned in philosophy. Nevertheless, they send abroad to
discover the customs of nations, and the best of these they
always adopt. Practice makes the women suitable for war
and other duties. Thus they agree with Plato, in whom I
have read these same things. The reasoning of our Cajetan
does not convince me, and least of all that of Aristotle.
This thing, however, existing among them is excellent and
worthy of imitation — viz., that no physical defect renders a
man incapable of being serviceable except the decrepitude
of old age, since even the deformed are useful for consulta-
tion. The lame serve as guards, watching with the eyes
which they possess. The blind card wool with their hands,
jeparating the down from the hairs, with which latter they
stuff the couches and sofas ; those who are without the use
of eyes and hands give the use of their ears or their voice for
the convenience of the state, and if one has only one sense,
he uses it in the farms. And these cripples are well treated,
and some become spies, telling the officers of the state what
they have heard.

G. M. Tell me now, I pray you, of their military affairs.
Then you may explain their arts, ways of life and sciences,
and lastly their religion.

Capt. The triumvir, Power, has under him all the magis-
trates of arms, of artillery, of cavalry, of foot-soldiers, of
architects, and of strategists, and the masters and many of
the most excellent workmen obey the magistrates, the men
of each art paying allegiance to their respective chiefs.
Moreover, Power is at the head of all the professors of
gymnastics, who teach military exercise, and who are prudent

24o THE CITY OF THE SUN.

generals, advanced in age. By these the boys are trained
after their twelfth year. Before this age, however, they
have been accustomed to wrestling, running, throwing the
weight and other minor exercises, under inferior masters.
But at twelve they are taught how to strike at the enemy, at
horses and elephants, to handle the spear> the sword, the
arrow and the sling ; to manage the horse ; to advance and
to retreat ; to remain in order of battle ; to help a comrade in
arms ; to anticipate the enemy by cunning ; and to conquer.

The women also are taught these arts under their own
magistrates and mistresses, so that they may be able if need
be to render assistance to the males in battles near the city.
They are taught to watch the fortifications lest at some time
a hasty attack should suddenly be made. In this respect
they praise the Spartans and Amazons. The women know
well also how to let fly fiery balls, and how to make them
from lead ; how to throw stones from pinnacles and to go in
the way of an attack. They are accustomed also to give up
wine unmixed altogether, and that one is punished most
severely who shows any fear.

The inhabitants of the City of the Sun do not fear
death, because they all believe that the soul is immortal,
and that when it has left the body it is associated with other
spirits, wicked or good, according to the merits of this
present life. Although they are partly followers of Bramah
and Pythagoras, they do not believe in the transmigration of
souls, except in some cases, by a distinct decree of God.
They do not abstain from injuring an enemy of the republic
and of religion, who is unworthy of pity. During the second
month the army is reviewed, and every day there is practice
of arms, either in the cavalry plain or within the walls. Nor
are they ever without lectures on the science of war. They
take care that the accounts of Moses, of Joshua, of David,
of Judas Maccabeus, of Csesar, of Alexander, of Scipio, of
Hannibal, and other great soldiers should be read. And

THE CITY OF 7 HE SUN. 241

then eacn one gives his own opinion as to whether these
generals acted well or ill, usefully or honourably, and then
the teacher answers and says who are right.

G. M. With whom do they wage war, and for what reasons,
since they are so prosperous ?

Capt. Wars might never occur, nevertheless they are
exercised in military tactics and in hunting, Itst perchance
they should become effeminate and unprepared for any emer-
gency. Besides there are four kingdoms in the island, which
are very envious of their prosperity, for this reason that the
people desire to live after the manner of the inhabitants of
the City of the Sun, and to be under their rule rather than
that of their own kings. WTherefore the state often makes war
upon these because, being neighbours, they are usurpers and
live impiously, since they have not an object of worship arid
do not observe the religion of other nations or of the Brah-
mins. And other nations of India, to which formerly they were
subject, rise up as it were in rebellion, as also do the Tapro-
banese, whom they wanted to join them at first. The warriors
of the City of the Sun, however, are always the victors. As
soon as they suffered from insult or disgrace or plunder, or
when their allies have been harassed, or a people have been
oppressed by a tyrant of the state (for they are always
the advocates of liberty), they go immediately to the council
for deliberation. After they have knelt* in the presence of
God that He might inspire their consultation, they proceed to
examine the merits of the business, and thus war is decided
on. Immediately after a priest, whom they call Forensic, is
sent away. He demands from the enemy the restitution of
the plunder, asks that the allies should be freed from oppres-
sion, or that the tyrant should be deposed. If they deny
these things war is declared by invoking the vengeance of
God — the God of Sabaoth — for destruction of those who
maintain an unjust cause. But if the enemy refuse to reply,
the priest gives him the space of one, hour for his answer, if

242 THE CITY OF THE SUN.

lie is a king, but three if it is a republic, so that they can-not
escape giving a response. And in this manner is war under-
taken against the insolent enemies of natural rights and of
religion. When war has been declared, the deputy of Power
performs every thing, but Power, like the Roman dictator, plans
and wills everything, so that hurtful tardiness may be avoided
And when anything of great moment arises he consults Hof *
and Wisdom and Love.

Before this, however, the occasion of war and the justice
of making an expedition is declared by a herald in the
great council. All from twenty years and upwards are ad-
mitted to this council, and thus the necessaries are agreed
upon. All kinds of weapons stand in the armories, and these
they use often in sham fights The exterior walls of each ring
are full of guns prepared by their labours, and they have other
engines for hurling which are called rannons, and which they .
take into battle upon mules and asses and carriages. When
they have arrived in an open plain they enclose in the middle
the provisions, engines of war, chariots, ladders and machines
and all fight courageously. Then each one returns to the
standards, and the enemy thinking that they are giving and
preparing to flee, are deceived and relax their order : then
the warriors of the City of the Sun, wheeling into wings and
columns on each side, regain their breath and strength, and
ordering the artillery to discharge their bullets they resume
the fight against a disorganized host. And they observe
many ruses of this kind. They overcome all mortals with
their stratagems and engines. Their camp is fortified after
the manner of the Romans. They pitch their tents and fortify
with wall and ditch with wonderful quickness. The masters
of works, of engines and hurling machines, stand ready, and
the soldiers understand the use of the spade and the axe.

Five, eight, or ten leaders learned in the order of battle and
in strategy consult together concerning the business of war,
ajid command their bands after consultation. It is their

THE CITY OF THE SUN.

34S

wont to take out with them a body of boys, armed and on
horses, so that they may learn to fight, just as the whelps of
lions and wolves are accustomed to blood. And these in
time of danger betake themselves to a place of safety, along
with many armed women. After the battle the women and
boys soothe and relieve the pain of the warriors, and wait
upon them and encourage them with embraces and pleasant
words. How wonderful a help is this ! For the soldiers, in
order that they may acquit themselves as sturdy men in the
eyes of their wives and offspring, endure hardships, and so
love makes them conquerors. He who in the fight first
scales the enemy's walls receives after the battle a crown of
grass, as a token of honour, and at the presentation the
women and boys applaud loudly; that one who affords aid to
an ally gets a civic crown of oak-leaves; he who kills a tyrant
dedicates his arms in the temple and receives from Hoh the
cognomen of his deed, and other warriors obtain other
kinds of crowns. Every horse-soldier carries a spear and two
strongly tempered pistols, narrow at the mouth, hanging from
his saddle. And to get the barrels of their pistols narrow
they pierce the metal which they intend to convert into
arms. Further, every cavalry soldier has a sword and a
dagger. But the rest, who form the light-armed troops, carry
a metal cudgel. For if the foe cannot pierce their metal for
pistols and cannot make swords, they attack him with clubs,
shatter and overthrow him. Two chains of six spans length
hang from the club, and at the end of these are iron balls,
and when these aimed at the enemy they surround his neck
and drag him to the ground ; and in order that they may
be able to use the club more easily, they do not hold the
reins with their hands, but use them by means of the feet.
If perchance the reins are interchanged above the trappings
Df the saddle, the ends are fastened to the stirrups with
buckles and not to the feet. And the stirrups have an ar-
rangement for swift movement of the bridle, so that they

244 THE CITY OF THR SUN

draw in or let out the rein with marvellous celerity. With
the right foot they turn the horse to the left and with the
left to the right. This secret, moreover, is not known to
the Tartars. For, although they govern the reins with their
feet, they are ignorant nevertheless of turning them and
drawing them in and letting them out by means of the
block of the stirrups. The light-armed cavalry with them
are the first to engage in battle, then the men forming
the phalanx with their spears, then the archers for whose
services a great price is paid, and who are accustomed to
fight in lines crossing one another as the threads of cloth,
some rushing forward in their turn and others receding.
They have a band of lancers strengthening the line of battle,
but they make trial of the swords only at the end.

After the battle they celebrate the military triumphs after
the manner of the Romans, and even in a more magnificent
way. Prayers by the way of thank-offerings are made to
God, and then the general presents himself in the temple,
and the deeds, good and bad, are related by the poet or
historian, who according to custom was with the expedition.
And the greatest chief, Hoh, crowns the general with laurel
and distributes little gifts and honours to all the valorous
soldiers, who are for some days free from public duties. But
this exemption from work is by no means pleasing to them,
since they know not what it is to be at leisure, and so they
help their companions. On the other hand, they who have
been conquered through their own fault, or have lost the
victory, are blamed ; and they who were the first to take to
flight are in no way worthy to escape death, unless when the
whole army asks their lives, and each one takes upon him-
self a part of their punishment But this indulgence is rarely
granted, except when there are good reasons favouring it.
But he who did not bear help to an ally or friend is beaten
with rods. That one who did not obey orders is given to
the beasts, in an enclosure, to be devoured, and a staff is put

THE CITY OF THE St/N. 345

in his hand, and if he should conquer the lions and the
bears that are there, which is almost impossible, he is re-
ceived into favour again. The conquered states or those
willingly delivered up to them, forthwith have all things in
common, and receive a garrison and magistrates from the
City of the Sun, and by degrees they are accustomed to the
ways of the city, the mistress of all, to which they even send
their sons to be taught without contributing anything for
expense.

It would be too great trouble to tell you about the spies and
their master, and about the guards and laws and ceremonies,
both within and without the state, which you can of yourself
imagine. Since from childhood they are chosen according
to their inclination and the star under which they were born,
therefore each one working according to his natural pro-
pensity does his duty well and pleasantly, because naturally.
The same things I may say concerning strategy and the
other functions.

There are guards in the city \jy day and by night, and
they are placed at the four gates, and outside the walls
of the seventh ring, above the breastworks and towers
and inside mounds. These places are guarded in the day
by women, in the night by men. And lest the guard should
become weary of watching, and in case of a surprise, they
change them every three hours, as is the custom with our
soldiers. At sunset, when the drum and symphonia sound,
the armed guards are distributed. Cavalry and infantiy
make use of hunting as the symbol of war, and practise
games and hold festivities in the plains. Then the music
strikes up, and freely they pardon the offences and faults of
the enemy, and after the victories they are kind to them, if
it has been decreed that they should destroy the walls of
the enemy's city and take their lives. All these things are
done on the same day as the victory, and afterwards they
never cease to load the conquered with favours, for they say

246 THE CITY OF THE SUtf.

that there ought to be no fighting, except when the con-
querors give up the conquered, not when they kill them.
If there is a dispute among them concerning injury or any
other matter (for they themselves scarcely ever contend
except in matters of honour), the chief and his magistrates
chastise the accused one secretly, if he has done harm in
deeds after he has been first angry. If they wait until the
time of the battle for the verbal decision, they must give
vent to their anger against the enemy, and he who in battle
shows the most daring deeds is considered to have defended
the better and truer cause in the struggle, and the other
yields, and they are punished justly. Nevertheless, they
are not allowed to come to single combat, since right
is maintained by the tribunal, and because the unjust cause
is often apparent when the more just succumbs, and he who
professes to be the better man shows this in public fight.

G. M, This is worth while, so that factions should not be
cherished for the harm of the fatherland, and so that civil
wars might not occur, for by means of these a tyrant often
arises, as the examples of Rome and Athens show. Now, I
pray you, tell me of their works and matter connected
therewith.

Capt. I believe that you have already heard about their
military affairs and about their agricultural and pastoral
life, and in what way these are common to them, and ho\v
they honour with the first grade of nobility whoever is con-
sidered to have a knowledge of these. They who are skilful
in more arts than these they consider still nobler, and they
set that one apart for teaching the art in which he is most
skilful. The occupations which require the most labour,
such as working in metals and building, are the most pniise-
worthy amongst them. No one declines to go to these
occupations, for the reason that from the beginning their
propensities are well known, and among them, on account
of the distribution of labour, no one does work harmful to

CITY OF THE SUN. 24*}

him, but only that which is necessary for him. The occupa-
tions entailing less labour belong to the women. All of
them are expected to know how to swim, and for this
reason ponds are dug outside the walls of the city and
within them near to the fountains.

Commerce is of little use to them, but they know the
value of money, and they count for the use of their ambas-
sadors and explorers, so that with it they may have the
means of living. They receive merchants into their states
from the different countries of the world, and these buy the
superfluous goods of the city. The people of the City of
the Sun refuse to take money, but in importing they accept
in exchange those things of which they are in need, and
sometimes they buy with money ; and the young peopk in
the City of the Sun are much amused when they see that for
a small price they receive so many things in exchange.
The old men, however, do not laugh. They are unwilling
that the state should be corrupted by the vicious customs of
slaves and foreigners. Therefore they do business at the
gates, and sell those whom they have taken in war or keep
them for digging ditches and other hard work without
the city, and for this reason they always send four bands of
soldiers to take care of the fields, and with them there are the
labourers. They go out of the four gates from which roads
with walls on both sides of them lead to the sea, so that
goods might easily be carried over them and foreigners
might not meet with difficulty on their way.

To strangers they are kind and polite ; they keep them
for three days at the public expense ; after they have first
hed their feet, they show them their city and its customs,
they honour them with a seat at the council and public
table, and there are men whose duty it is to take care of
and guard the guests. But if strangers should wish to
become citizens of their state, they try them first for a
month on a farm, and for another month in1 the city, then

for

£

34£ THE CITY OF THE

they decide concerning them, and admit them with certain
ceremonies and oaths.

Agriculture is much followed among them ; there is not a
span of earth without cultivation, and they observe the
winds and propitious stars. With the exception of a few left
in the city all go out armed, and with flags and drums and
trumpets sounding, to the fields, for the purposes of ploughing,
sowing, digging, hoeing, reaping, gathering fruit and grapes ;
and they set in order everything, and do their work in a very
few hours and with much care. They use waggons fitted
with sails which are borne along by the wind even when it
is contrary, by the marvellous contrivance of wheels within
wheels.

And when there is no wind a beast draws along a huge
cart, which is a grand sight.

The guardians of the land move about in the meantime,
armed and always in their proper turn. They do not use
dung and filth for manuring the fields, thinking that the
fruit contracts something of their rottenness, and when eaten
gives a short and poor subsistence, as women who are
beautiful with rouge and from want of exercise bring forth
feeble offspring. Wherefore they do not as it were paint
the earth, but dig it up well and use secret remedies, so that
fruit is borne quickly and multiplies, and is not destroyed.
They have a book for this work, which they call the
Georgics. As much of the land as is necessary is cultivated,
and the rest is used for the pasturage of cattle.

The excellent occupation of breeding and rearing horses,
oxen, sheep, dogs and all kinds of domestic and tame
animals, is in the highest esteem among them as it was in
the time of Abraham. And the animals are led so to pair
that they may be able to breed well

Fine pictures of oxen, horses, sheep, and other animals
are placed before them. They do not turn out horses with
mares to feed, but at the proper time they bring them

CITY Ob TH£ SVX 249

together in an enclosure of the stables in their fields. And
this is done when they observe that the constellation Archer
is in favourable conjunction with Mars and Jupiter. For
the oxen they observe the Bull, for the sheep the Ram, and
so on in accordance with art. Under the Pleiades they
keep a drove of hens and ducks and geese, which are
driven out by the women to feed near the ci;y. The women
only do this when it is a pleasure to them. There are
also places enclosed, where they make cheese, butter, and
milk-food. They also keep capons, fruit and other things,
and for all these matters there is a book which they call the
Bucolics. They have an abundance of all things, since
every one likes to be industrious, their labours being slight
and profitable. They are docile, and that one among them
who is head of the rest in duties of this kind they call king.
For they say that this is the proper name of the leaders, and
it does not belong to ignorant persons. It is wonderful to
see how men and women march together collectively, and
always in obedience to the voice of the king. Nor do they
regard him with loathing as we do, for they know that
although he is greater than themselves, he is for all that
their father and brother. They keep groves and woods for
wild animals, and they often hunt.

The science of navigation is considered very dignified by
them, and they possess rafts and triremes, which go over
the waters without rowers or the force of the wind, but by
a marvellous contrivance. And other vessels they have
which are moved by the winds. They have a correct
knowledge of the stars, and of the ebb and flow of the tide.
They navigate for the sake of becoming acquainted with
nations and different countries and things. They injure
nobody, and they do not put up with injury, and they never
go to battle unless when provoked. They assert that the
whole earth will in time come to live in accordance with
their customs, and consequently they always find out

j5o THE CITY OF THE SUN.

whether there be a nation whose manner of living is bettet
and more approved than the rest. They admire the
Christian institutions and look for a realisation of the
apostolic life in vogue among themselves and in us. There
are treaties between them and the Chinese, and many other
nations, both insular and continental, such as Siam and
Calicut, which they are only just able to explore. Further-
more, they have artificial fires, battles on sea and land, and
many strategic secrets. Therefore they are nearly always
victorious.

G. M. Now it would be very pleasant to learn with what
foods and drinks they are nourished, and in what way and
for how long they live.

Capt. Their food consists of flesh, butter, honey, cheese,
garden herbs, and vegetables of various kinds. They were
unwilling at first to slay animals, because it seemed cruel ; but
thinking afterwards that it was also cruel to destroy herbs
which have a share of sensitive feeling, they saw that they
would perish from hunger unless they did an unjustifiable
action for the sake of justifiable ones, and so now they all
eat meat. Nevertheless, they do not kill willingly useful
animals, such as oxen and horses. They observe the differ-
ence between useful and harmful foods, and for this they
employ the science of medicine. They always change their
food. First they eat flesh, then fish, then afterwards they
go back to flesh, and nature is never incommoded or
weakened. The old people use th^ more digestible kind of
food, and take three meals a day, eating only a little. But the
general community eat twice, and the boys four times, that
they might satisfy nature. The length of their lives is generally
one hundred years, but often they reach two hundred.

As regards drinking, they are extremely moderate. Wine
is never given to young people until they are ten years old,
unless the state of their health demands it. After their
tenth year they take it diluted with water, and so do the

THE CTTY OF THE SUN. 451

tvomen, but the old men of fifty and upwards use little or no
water. They eat the most healthy things, according to the
time of the year.

They think nothing harmful which is brought forth by God,
except when there has been abuse by taking too much.
And therefore in the summer they feed on fruits, because
they are moist and juicy and cool, and counteract the heat
and dryness. In the winter they feed on dry articles, and in
the autumn they eat grapes, since they are given by God to
remove melancholy and sadness ; and they also make use of
scents to a great degree. In the morning, when they have
all risen they comb their hair and wash their faces and
hands with cold water. Then they chew thyme or rock
parsley or fennel, or rub their hands with these plants. The
old men make incense, and with their faces to the east repeat
the short prayer which Jesus Christ taught us. After this
they go to wait upon the old men, some go to the dance,
and others to the duties of the state. Later on they meet
at the early lectures, then in the temple, then for bodily
exercise. Then for a little while they sit down to rest, and
at length they go to dinner.

Among them there is never gout in the hands or feet,
no catarrh, nor sciatica, nor -grievous colics, nor flatulency,
nor hard breathing. For these diseases are caused by
indigestion and flatulency, and by frugality and exercise they
remove every humour and spasm. Wherefore it is unseemly
in the extreme to be seen vomiting or spitting, since they
say that this is a sign either of little exercise or of ignoble
sloth, or of drunkenness or gluttony. They suffer rather
from swellings or from the dry spasm, which they relieve
with plenty of good and juicy food. They heal fevers with
pleasant baths and with milk-food, and with a pleasant
habitation in the country and by gradual exercise. Unclean
diseases cannot be prevalent with them because they often
clean their bodies by bathing in wine, and soothe them with

252 THE CITY OF THE StM.

aromatic oil, and by the sweat of exercise they diffuse the
poisonous vapour which corrupts the blood and the marrow.
They do suffer a little from consumption, because they can-
not perspire at the breast, but they never have asthma, for
the humid nature of which a heavy man is required. They
cure hot fevers with cold potations of water, but slight ones
with sweet smells, with cheese-bread or sleep, with music or
'dancing. Tertiary fevers are cured by bleeding, by rhubarb
or by a similar drawing remedy, or by water soaked in the
roots of plants, with purgative and sharp-tasting qualities.
But it is rarely that they take purgative medicines. Fevers
occurring every fourth day are cured easily by suddenly
startling the unprepared patients, and by means of herbs
producing effects opposite to the humours of this fever. All
these secrets they told me in opposition to their own wishes.
They take more diligent pains to cure the lasting fevers,
which they fear more, and they strive to counteract these by
the observation of stars and of plants, and by prayers to God.
Fevers recurring every fifth, sixth, eighth or more days, you
never find whenever heavy humours are wanting.

They use baths, and moreover they have warm ones
according to the Roman custom, and they make use also of
olive oil. They have found out, too, a great many secret
cures for the preservation of cleanliness and health. And
in other ways they labour to cure the epilepsy, with which
they are often troubled.

G. M. A sign this disease is of wonderful cleverness, for
from it Hercules, Scotus, Socrates, Callimachus. and
Mahomet have suffered.

Capt. They cure by means of prayers to heaven, by
strengthening the head, by acids, by planned gymnastics, and
with fat cheese-bread sprinkled with the flour of wheaten corn.
They are very skilled in making dishes, and in them they put
spice, honey, butter and many highly strengthening spices,
and they temper their richness with acids, so that they never

THE CJTY OF THE SUN. 253

vomit. They do not drink ice-cold drinks nor artificial hot
drinks, as the Chinese do; for they are not without aid
against the humours of the body, on account of the help they
get from the natural heat of the water ; but they strengthen it
with crushed garlic, with vinegar, with wild thyme, with
mint, and with basil, in the summer or in time of special
heaviness. They know also a secret for renovating life after
about the seventieth year, and for ridding it of affliction,
and this they do by a pleasing and indeed wonderful art.

G. M. Thus far you have said nothing concerning their
sciences and magistrates.

Capt. Undoubtedly I have. But since you are so curious
I will add more. Both when it is new moon and full moon
they call a council after a sacrifice. To this all from twenty
years upwards are admitted, and each one is asked separately
to say what is wanting in the state, and which of the
magistrates have discharged their duties rightly and which
wrongly. Then after eight days all the magistrates assemble,
to wit, Hoh first, and with him Power, Wisdom and Love.
Each one of the three last has three magistrates under him,
making in all thirteen, and they consider the affairs of the arts
pertaining to each one of them ; Power, of war ; Wisdom, of
the sciences; Love, of food, clothing, education and breeding.
The masters of all the bands, who are captains of tens,
of fifties, of hundreds, also assemble, the women first and
then the men. They argue about those things which are for
the welfare of the state, and they choose the magistrates
from among those who have already been named in the
great council. In this manner they assemble daily, Hoh
and his three princes, and they correct, confirm and execute
the matters passing to them, as decisions in the elections ;
other necessary questions they provide of themselves. They
do not use lots unless when they are altogether doubtful
how to decide. The eight magistrates under Hoh, Power,
Wisdom and Love are changed according to the wish of the

154 THE CITY OF THE SUN.

people, but the first four are never changed, unless they,
taking counsel with themselves, give up the dignity of one to
another, whom among them they know to be wiser, more re-
nowned, and more nearly perfect. And then they are obedient
and honourable, since they yield willingly to the wiser man
and are taught by him. This, however, rarely happens.
The principals of the sciences, except Metaphysics, who is
Hoh himself, and is as it were the architect of all science,
having rule over all, are attached to Wisdom. Hoh
is ashamed to be ignorant of any possible thing. Under
Wisdom therefore is Grammar, Logic, Physics, Medicine,
Astrology, Astronomy, Geometry, Cosmography, Music,
Perspective, Arithmetic, Poetry, Rhetoric, Painting, Sculp-
ture. Under the triumvir Love are Breeding, Agriculture,
Education, Medicine, Clothing, Pasturage, Coining.

G. M. What about their judges?

Capt. This is the point I was just thinking of explaining
Everyone is judged by the first master of his trade, and thus
all the head artificers are judges. They punish with exile,
with flogging, with blame, with deprivation of the common
table, with exclusion from the church and from the company
of women. When there is a case in which great injury has
been done, it is punished with death, and they repay an eye
with an eye, a nose for a nose, a tooth for a tooth, and so on,
according to the law of retaliation. If the offence is wilful
the council decides. When there is strife and it takes place
undesignedly, the sentence is mitigated; nevertheless, not
by the judge but by the triumvirate, from whom even it may
be referred to Hoh, not on account of justice but of mercy,
for Hoh is able to pardon. They have no prisons, except
one tower for shutting up rebellious enemies, and there is no
written statement of a case, which we commonly call a law-
suit. But the accusation and witnesses are produced in the
presence of the judge and Power ; the accused person makes
his defence, and he is immediately acquitted or condemned

THE CITY OF THE SUN. 255

by the judge ; and if he appeals to the triumvirate, on the
following day he is acquitted or condemned. On the third
day he is dismissed through the mercy and clemency of
Hoh, or receives the inviolable rigour of his sentence. An
Accused person is reconciled to his accuser and to his
witnesses, as it were, with the medicine of his complaint, that
is, with embracing and kissing. No one is killed or stoned
unless by the hands of the people, the accuser and the
witnesses beginning first. For they have no executioners
and lictors, lest the state should sink into ruin. The choice
of death is given to the rest of the people, who enclose the
lifeless remains in little bags and burn them by the application
of fire, while exhorters are present for the purpose of advising
concerning a good death. Nevertheless, the whole nation
laments and beseeches God that His anger may be appeased,
being in grief that it should as it were have to cut off a rotten
member of the state. Certain officers talk to and convince
the accused man by means of arguments until he himself
acquiesces in the sentence of death passed upon him, or else
he does not die. But if a crime has been committed against
the liberty of the republic, or against God, or against the
supreme magistrates, there is immediate censure without
pity. These only are punished with death. He who is
about to die is compelled to state in the presence of the
people and with religious scrupulousness the reasons for
which he does not deserve death, and also the sins of the
others who ought to die instead of him, and further the mis-
takes of the magistrates. If, moreover, it should seem right
to the person thus asserting, he must say why the accused
ones are deserving of less punishment than he. And if by
his arguments he gains the victory he is sent into exile, and
appeases the state by means of prayers and sacrifices and
good life easuing. They do not torture those named by
the accused person, but they warn them. Sins of frailty and
ignorance are punished only with blaming, and with con>-

256 THE CITY OF THE SUN.

pulsory continuation as learners under the law and discipline
of tho?* sciences or arts against which they have sinned.
And ail these things they have mutually among themselves,
since they seem to be m very truth members of the same
body, and one of another.

This further I would have you know, that it a transgressor,
without waiting to be accused, goes of his own accord before
a magistrate, accusing himself and seeking to make amends,
that one is liberated from the punishment of a secret crime,
and since he has not been accused of such a crime, his
punish rrent is changed into another. They take special
care that no one should invent slander, and if this should
happen they meet the offence with the punishment of re-
taliation. Since they always walk about and work in crowds,
five witnesses are required for the conviction of a trans-
gressor. If the case is otherwise, after having threatened
him, he is released after he has sworn an oath as the warrant
of good conduct. Or if he is accused a second or third
time, his increased punishment rests on the testimony of
three or two witnesses. They have but few laws, and these
short and plain, and written upon a flat table, and hanging
to the doors of the temple, that is between the columns.
And on single columns can be seen the essences of things
described in the very terse style of Metaphysics — viz., the
essences of God, of the angels, of the world, of the stars, of
man, of fate, of virtue, all done with great wisdom. The
definitions of all the virtues are also delineated here, and
here is the tribunal, where the judges of all the virtues have
their seat. The definition of a certain virtue is written undei
that column where the judges for the aforesaid virtue sit,
and when a judge gives judgment he sits and speaks thus :
O son, thou hast sinned against this sacred definition of
beneficence, or of magnanimity, or of another virtue, as the
case may be. And after discussion the judge legally con-
demns him to the punishment for the crime of which he U

THE CITY OF THE SUN. 257

accused — viz., for injury for despondency, for pride, for in-
gratitude, for sloth, &c. But the sentences are certain and
true correctives, savouring more of clemency than of actual
punishment.

G. M. Now you ought to tell me about their priests, their
sacrifices, their religion, and their belief.

Capt. The chief priest is Hoh, and it is the duty of all the
superior magistrates to pardon sins. Therefore the whole
state by secret confession, which we also use, tell their sins
to the magistrates, who at once purge their souls and teach
those that are inimical to the people. Then the sacred
magistrates themselves confess their own sinfulness to the
three supreme chiefs, and together they confess the faults of
one another, though no special one is named, and they con-
fess especially the heavier faults and those harmful to the
state. At length the triumvirs confess their sinrulness to
Hoh himself, who forthwith recognizes the kinds of sins
that are harmful to the state, and succours with timely
remedies. Then he offers sacrifices and prayers to God.
And before this he confesses the sins of the whole people,
in the presence of God, and publicly in the temple, above
.the altar, as often as it had been necessary that the fault
should be corrected. Nevertheless, no transgressor is spokeri
of by his name. In this manner he absolves the people by
advising them that they should beware of sins of the afore-
said kind. Afterwards he offers sacrifice to God, that He
should pardon the state and absolve it of its sins, and to
teach and defend it. Once in every year the chief priests
of each separate subordinate state confess their sins in the
presence of Hoh. Thus he is not ignorant of the wrong-
doings of the provinces, and forthwith he removes them
with all human and heavenly remedies.
* Sacrifice is conducted after the following manner : Hoh
asks the people which one among them wishes to give himself
as a sacrifice to God for the sake of his fellows. He is then

I

258 THE CITY OF THE SUN.

placed upon the fourth table, with ceremonies and the offering
up of prayers : the table is hung up in a wonderful manner by
means of four ropes passing through four cords attached to
firm pulley-blocks in the small dome of the temple. This
done they cry to the God of mercy, that He may accept the
offering, not of a beast as among the heathen, but of a human
being. Then Hoh orders the ropes to be drawn and the
sacrifice is pulled up above to the centre of the small dome,
and there it dedicates itself with the most fervent supplica-
tions. Food is given to it through a window by the priests,
who live around the dome, but it is allowed a very little to
eat, until it has atoned for the sins of the state. There with
prayer and fasting he cries to the God of heaven that He
might accept its willing offering. And after twenty or thirty
days, the anger of God being appeased, the sacrifice becomes
a priest, or sometimes, though rarely, returns below by means
of the outer way for the priests. Ever after this man is
treated with great benevolence and much honour, for the
reason that he offered himself unto death for the sake of his
country. But God does not require death. The priests
above twenty-four years of age offer praises from their places
in the top of the temple. This they do in the middle of the
night, at noon, in the morning and in the evening, to wit,
four times a day they sing their chants in the presence of
God. It is also their work to observe the stars and to note
with the astrolabe their motions and influences upon human
things, and to find out their powers. Thus they know in
what part of the earth any change has been or will be, and at
what time it has taken place, and they send to find whether •
the matter be as they have it. They make a note of predic-
tions, true and false, so that they may be able from experi-
ence to predict most correctly. The priests, moreover,
determine the hours for breeding and the days for sowing,
reaping, and gathering the vintage, and are as it were the
ambassadors and intercessors and connection between God

THE CITY OF THE SUN. 259

and man. And it is from among them mostly that Hoh is
elected. They write very learned treatises and search into
the sciences. Below they never descend, unless for their
dinner and supper, so that the essence of their heads do not
descend to the stomachs and liver. Only very seldom,
and that as a cure for the ills of solitude, do they have con-
verse with women. On certain days Hoh goes up to them
and deliberates with them concerning the matters which he
has lately investigated for the benefit of the state and all
the nations of the world.

In the temple beneath one priest always stands near the
altar praying for the people, and at the end of every hour
another succeeds him, just as we are accustomed in solemn
prayer to change every fourth hour. And this method of
supplication they call perpetual prayer. After a meal they
return thanks to God. Then they sing the deeds of the
Christian, Jewish, and Gentile heroes, and of those of all
other nations, and this is very delightful to them. For-
sooth, no one is envious of another. They sing a hymn to
Love, one to Wisdom, and one each to all the other virtues,
and this they do under the direction of the ruler of each
virtue. Each one takes the woman he loves most, and they
dance for exercise with propriety and stateliness under the
peristyles. The women wear their long hair all twisted
together and collected into one knot on the crov/n of the
head, but in rolling it they leave one curl. The men,
Vowever, have one curl only and the rest of their hair around
the head is shaven off. Further, they wear a slight covering,
and above this a round hat a little larger thoi the size of
their head. In the fields they use caps, but at home each
one wears a biretto white, red, or another colour according
to his trade or occupation. Moreover, the magistrates use
grander and more imposing-looking coverings for the head.

They hold great festivities when the sun enters the four
cardinal points of the heavens, that is, when he enters

I 2

2*0 THE CITY OF THE SUN.

Cancer, Libra, Capricorn, and Aries. On these occasions
they have very learned, splendid, and as it were comic
performances. They celebrate also every full and every
new moon with a festival, as also they do the anniversaries
of the founding of the city, and of the days when they have
won victories or done any other great achievement. The cele-
brations take place with the music of female voices, with
the noise of trumpets and drums, and the firing of salutations.
The poets sing the praises of the most renowned leaders
and the victories. Nevertheless, if any of them should
deceive even by disparaging a foreign hero, he is punished.
No one can exercise the function of a poet who invents
that which is not true, and a license like this they think to
be a pest of our world, for the reason that it puts a
premium upon virtue and often assigns it to unworthy
persons, either from fear or flattery, or ambition or avarice.
For the praise of no one is a statue erected until after his
death ; but whilst he is alive, who has found out new arts
and very useful secrets, or who has rendered great service
to the state either at home or on the battle-field, his name
is written in the book of heroes. They do not bury dead
bodies, but burn them, so that a plague may not arise from
them, and so that they may be converted into fire, a very
noble and powerful thing, which has its coming from the sun
and returns to it. And for the above reasons no chance is
given for idolatry. The statues and pictures of the heroes,
however, are there, and the splendid women- set apart
to become mothers often look at them. Prayers are made
from the state to the four horizontal corners of the world.
In the morning to the rising sun, then to the setting sun,
then to the south, and lastly to the north ; and in the
contrary order in the evening, first to the setting sun, to
the rising sun, to the north, and at length to the south.
They repeat but one prayer, which asks for health of body
and of mind, and happiness for themselves and all people,

THE CITY OF THE S(/N. a$i

and they conclude it with the petition " As it seems best to
God." The public prayer for all is long, and it is poured
forth to heaven. For this reason the altar is round and is
divided crosswise by ways at right angles to one another.
By these ways Hoh enters after he has repeated the four
prayers, and he prays looking up to heaven. And then a
great nfystery is seen by them. The priestly vestments are
of a beauty and meaning like to those of Aaron. They
resemble Nature and they surpass Art.

They divide the seasons according to the revolution of
the sun, and not of the stars, and they observe yearly by how
much time the one precedes the other. They hold that the
sun approaches nearer and nearer, and therefore by ever-
lessening circles reaches the tropics and the equator every
year a little sooner. They measure months by the course
of the moon, years by that of the sun. They praise Ptolemy,
admire Copernicus, but place Aristarchus and Philolaus
before him. They take great pains in endeavouring to under-
stand the construction of the world, and whether or not it will
perish, and at what time. They believe that the true oracle of
Jesus Christ is by the signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the
stars, which signs do not thus appear to many of us foolish
ones. Therefore they wait for the renewing of the age, and
perchance for its end. They say that it is very doubtful
whether the world was made from nothing, or from the ruins
of other worlds, or from chaos, but they certainly think that
it was made, and did not exist from eternity. Therefore
they disbelieve in Aristotle, whom they consider a logician
and not a philosopher. From analogies, they can draw
many arguments against the eternity of the world. The sun
and the stars they, so to speak, regard as the living represen-
tatives and signs of God, as the temples and holy living
altars, and they honour but do not worship them. Beyond
all other things they venerate the sun, but they consider no
created thing worthy the adoration of worship. This they

562 THE CITY OF THE SUX.

give to God alone, and thus they serve Him, that tuey may
not come into the power of a tyrant and fall into misery by
undergoing punishment by creatures of revenge. They
contemplate and know God under the image of the Sun, and
they call it the sign of God, His face and living image, by
means of which light, heat, life, and the making of all things
good and bad proceeds. Therefore they have built an altar
like to the Sun in shape, and the priests praise God in the
sun and in the stars, as it were His altars, and in the heavens,
His temple as it were ; and they pray to good angels, who are,
so to speak, the intercessors living in the stars, their strong
abodes. For God long since set signs of their beauty in
heaven, and of His glory in the Sun. They say there is but
one heaven, and that the planets move and rise of themselves
when they approach the sun or are in conjunction with it.

They assert two principles of the physics of things below,
namely, that the Sun is the father, and the Earth the
mother ; the air is an impure part of the heavens ; all fire
is derived from the sun. The sea is the sweat of earth,
or the fluid of earth combusted, and fused within its bowels ;
but is the bond of union between air and earth, as the blood
is of the spirit and flesh of animals. The world is a great
animal, and we live within it as worms live within us.
Therefore we do not belong to the system of stars, sun,
and earth, but to God only ; for in respect to them which
seek only to amplify themselves, we are born and live by
chance ; but in respect to God, whose instruments we are,
we are formed by prescience and design, and for a high end.
Therefore we are bound to no Father but God, and receive
all things from Him. They hold as beyond question the
immortality of souls, and that these associate with good
angels after death, or with bad angels, according as they
have likened themselves in this life to either. For all
things seek their like. They differ little from us as to
places of reward and punishment. They are in doubt

THE CITY OP THE SUN. 263

whether there are other worlds beyond ours, and account it
madness to say there is nothing, Nonentity is incompatible
with the infinite entity of God. They lay down two prin-
ciples of metaphysics, entity which is the highest God,
and nothingness which is the defect of entity. Evil
and sin come of the propensity to nothingness ; the sin
having its cause not efficient, but in deficiency. Deficiency
is, they say, of power, wisdom or will. Sin they place in
the last of these three, because he who knows and has
the power to do good is bound also to have the will,
for will arises out of them. They worship God in Trinity,
saying God is the supreme Power, whence proceeds
the highest Wisdom, which is the same with God, and from
these comes Love, which is both Power and Wisdom ; but
they do not distinguish persons by name, as in our Christian
law, which has not been revealed to them. This religion,
when its abuses have been removed, will be the future
mistress of the world, as great theologians teach and hope.
Therefore Spain found the New World (though ijts first
discoverer, Columbus, greatest of heroes, was a Genoese), that
all nations should be gathered under one law. We know
not 'what we do, but God knovs, whose instruments we are.
They sought new regions for lust of gold and riches, but
God works to a higher end. The sun strives to burn up the
earth, not to produce plants and men, but God guides the
battle to great issues. His the praise, to Him the glory !

G. M. Oh, if you knew what our astrologers say of the
coming age, and of our age, that has in it more history
within a hundred years than all the world had in four
thousand years before! Of the wonderful invention of
printing and guns, and the use of the magnet, and how it all
comes of Mercury, Mars, the Moon, and the Scorpion !

Capt. Ah, well ! God gives all in His good time. They
astrologize too much.

A FRAGMENT OF

JOSEPH HALL'S
MUNDUS ALTER ET IDEM

(THE OTHER-AND-SAME WORLD)
TRANSLATED BY

DR. WILLAM KING.

INTRODUCTORY SKETCH.

JOSEPH HALL was born at Bristow Park, by Ashby-de-la-
Zouch, in the year 1574, and educated at Emmanuel
College, Cambridge. In 1597 he published three books,
and in 1598 three more books, of Satires, " Virgidcmiarum,
Six Bookes." These satires, with others published about the
same time by Marlowe and Marston, were burnt by order of
Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had no relish for
that kind of writing. Nine years later, in the year 1607, at
the age of thirty-two, Hall published the satire now to be
described. He was a witty and an earnest man, who rose
to honour in the Church, became successively Bishop of
Exeter and of Norwich ; as Bishop of Norwich was in con-
troversy with John Milton on Church Discipline ; suffered
patiently imprisonment and persecution from the Puritans ;
and closed an honourable life of more than fourscore years
in 1656. He has been called by some the Christian
Seneca.

His early work, the " Mundus Alter et Idem," represents
an ideal world divided into regions answering to man's chief
weaknesses or vices. He gave with it a map of its Crapulia,
Latronia, &c., fully peopled, with a neighbouring land in
which there are no signs of settlement, Terra Sancta, ignota
ttiam adhuC) the Holy Land, even yet unknown.

*6& INTRODUCTORY SKETCH.

Joseph Hall's new world is also figured as an Austral
Continent. They are good travellers, he says, who tell what
they have seen in known lands, but he is a better who not
only travels but is himself the maker of the lands he travels
through. He chose his day, and went aboard the good
ship Phantasy, quitted harbour, sailed away, reached in two
years the Fortunate Isles, and, leaving the shores of Africa
behind him, came in sight of the black headland of
Crapulia.

Here Introduction ends and Travel begins with the part
partly translated by Dr. King : Crapulia, named from Crapula,
is the Land of Inebriate Excess, and its two provinces,
Famphagonia and Yvrohia, mean by their names the
provinces of Omnivorous Gluttony and Drunkenness. Dr.
King has translated six chapters, and begun the seventh,
which is upon the wars of the Pamphagonians, to which
they march forth armed with spits and two-pronged forks?
and heavy ribs of beef. In their free city, Ucalegon, built
near the borders of Moronia, the citizens live happy as
monks. They are so well shut in by higfc rocks that they
can laugh at enemies, and through a hollow in the rocks
with softest pace creeps the river Oysivius (the Idle). There
is only one way up, their rocks for the inhabitants, and
that is not by zigzag steps, but by a rope and basket.
Birds wholly peculiar to the place supply food by being
themselves eatable, and by the great multitude of their
eggs, and by the loads of fish they bring into their nests to
feed their young. The citizens make to themselves also beds
of the soft feathers of these birds. This valley yields to the
people of Ucalegon everything except what they don't care
for. They are free, therefore, to sup, sleep, rise, dine, and
lie down.

Husbandry, as among the old Egyptians, consists chiefly
in feeding pigs, for the husbandmen wait on the rich. One,
with a gentle touch, opens the richer man's eyes when he

INTRODUCTORY SKETCH. 269

wakes ; another fans him with a flapper while he eats ;
another puts bits into his mouth when it opens. There are
two cities under Ucalegon, Livona and Roncara (Snort and
Snore), which have like privileges, except that here the in.
habitants are almost always asleep, and fatten wonderfully.
'*• These are among the laws of Crapulia : — It is a crime to
drink alone. Whoever has defrauded Nature by fasting four
hours after sleep shall be compelled to sup. When the
mouth is full it is enough to answer questions by holding
out a finger. What cook soever shall treat food so that it
cannot be eaten, shall be tied to a stake beside which is
hung meat half raw or half burnt, and shall remain so tied
until somebody comes who will eat that meat.

No coin of metal is current in Crapulia, but they make
payment in kind. Thus two sparrows are one starling, two
starlings are one fieldfare, two fieldfares one hen, two hens
one goose, two geese one lamb, two lambs one kid, two
kids one goat, two goats one cow, and so forth.

The next chapter is on the Religion of the Crapulians.
They hate Jove because his thunder turns the wine sour and
"he spoils ripe fruit by rainhig on it. Their God is Time,
who eats everything.

But I hasten, says the traveller, to the palace of the Grand
Duke, whither I was happily led by my genius. The first
Duke must have been as large as the man two of whose
teeth were dug up at Cambridge, each as big as a man's
head. On his tomb is an inscription. " I Oinasius, Duke
of Fagonia, Lord, Victor, Prince and God lie here. No
man shall say I starved, shall pass by fasting, or salute me
sober. Let him be my heir who can, my subject who will,
my enemy who dares. Farewell and Fatten."

After a description of the Island of Hunger, the traveller
passes from Pamphagonia to Yvronia, the other province of
Crapulia.

These are among the laws of Yvronia : — A cup must be

270 INTRODUCTORY SKETCH.

either full or empty. Whoever takes or returns a cup half
empty shall be guilty of lest soriete. The sober man who
hurts a drunkard, shall be cut off from wine for ever : if he
kill a drunkard, he shaifdie by thirst. To walk from supper
in a right line shall be criminal. He who adds water to
wine shall be degraded to the table of the dogs.

Yvronia having been described in seven chapters, the
traveller in this Other-and-Same World passes on to Viraginia,
the land of the Viragoes. This is Gynia Nova, miswritten
New Guinea. The chief of its many provinces is Lingua-
docia, in which Garrula is one of the famous cities. In
Viraginia the traveller was at once made prisoner, but per-
mitted to see the land after he had subscribed to certain
articles, as, That in word or deed he would work no ill to
the nobler sex ; That he would never interpose a word
when a woman was speaking; That wherever he might be
he would concede domestic rule to the woman ; That he
would never deny to a wife any ornament of dress she
looked at.

As to its form of government, the state seemed to be a
democracy, in which all governed and none obeyed. They
settled affairs at public meetings, in which all spoke and
none listened ; and they had a perpetual Parliament.

The men in Viraginia are subject to the women. When
a wife leaves her house for any reason, she places the care
of her husband under any other woman of the household until
she returns. A husband who survives his wife, is married
at once to his wife^s maid, or goes into bondage to the
nearest mother of a family, because it is not permitted that
any man shall become master in his own house.

The women sit while the men serve, sleep when the men
^re roused to get up, scold them when they complain, and
beat them. That day is worthy to be marked with a
white stone to which men can say good-bye with a whole
skin.

INTRODUCTORY SKETCH. 27?

Contrary to the custom with us, the women in Viraginia
cut their hair and let their nails grow. Some of them also
practise with profit the gymnastic art, so that they can make
beautiful use of teeth, nails, and heels. A nobler and more
cleanly polished place is not to be seen than Viraginia,
where everything is washed, cooked and cared for by the
men, and there is nothing unbecoming but the garments of
the men themselves.

The next land to be visited was Moronia, Foolsland, the
vastest, the most uncultivated and the most populous of all
these countries. To the east is Variana or Moronia
Mobilis, to the north is Moronia Aspera, to the south
Moronia Felix, and to the west Moronia Pia. The people
are, nearly all of them, tall and fat, with palish hair, pro-
minent lips, and very thick ears. In midwinter they go
with their chests open, and the rest of the body lightly
clothed, that the warmth may enter the more readily, and
the cold go out of them ; but in summer they put on thick
overcoats and cloaks, and all the clothes they have, to shut
out the heat. They shave their heads, either because they
remember that they were born bald, or to allay the heat
of the brain, or because the hair comes between the brain
and heaven, and checks the freedom of the mind in going
heavenward.

Provinces, towns and people of Moronia having been
visited and fully described, the traveller through this Other-
and-Same World then proceeds to describe Lavernia,
the Land of Thieves and Cheats, who obtain great part of
their plunder from Moronia. In this land the Larcinians
require much attention. And at the end of all, adds Joseph
Hall, " These men, these manners, these cities I have seen,
have marvelled at, have laughed at, and at last, broken by
the toils of so great a journey, have returned to my own land.
PEREGRINUS, QUONDAM ACADEMICUS."

272 INTRODUCTOR V SKETCH.

Dr. William King was born in the year 1663, son of
Ezekiel King, a gentleman of London. He was educated
it Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. He
oarly inherited a fair estate, took his Master of Arts degree
in 1688, and began his career as writer with a refutation of
attacks upon AViclif in the " History of Heresy," by M.
Varillas. He then chose li^v for a profession, in 1692 gra-
duated as LL.D., and was admitted an Advocate at Doctor's
Commons. He kept a light heart and a lighter purse than
beseemed one of his fraternity, publishing playful satires,
at times showing an earnest mind under his mirth. In or
soon after the year 1702 Dr. King went to Ireland as judge
of the High Court of Admiralty, sole Commissioner of the
Prizes, Vicar-General to the Lord Primate, and Keeper of
the Records in Birmingham's Tower, in which office he was
succeeded in 1708 by Joseph Addison. Dr. King, who
had not increased his credit for a love of work, returned to
London about that time, and following his own way of mirth
began publishing " Useful Transactions in Philosophy and
other sorts of learning." In 1709 he published the best of
his playful poems. " The Art of Cookery, in imitation of
Horace's Art of Poetry ; with some letters to Dr. Lister and
others, occasioned principally by the Title of a Book pub-
lished by the Doctor, being the works of Apicius Ccelius
concerning the Soups and Sauces of the Ancients." When
he came across Joseph Hall's satire, he found it so much to
his mind that he began to translate as follows : —

H. M.

CRAPULIA.

CHAPTER I.

The Situatien of the Country.

CRAPULIA is a very fair and large territory, which on the
north is bounded with the Ethiopia Ocean, on the east
with Laconia and Viraginia, on the south by Moronia Felix,
and westward with the Tryphonian Fens. It lies in that
part of the universe where is bred the monstrous bird called
Rue, that for its prey will bear off an elephant in its talons ;
and is described by the modern geographers.

The soil is too fruitful, and the heavens too serene ; so
that I have looked upon them with a silent envy, not with-
out pity, when I considered they were blessings so little
deserved by the inhabitants. It lies in seventy-four degrees
of longitude, and sixty degrees of latitude, and eleven
degrees distant from the Cape of Good Hope ; and lies, as
it were, opposite to the whole coast of Africa. It is com-
monly divided into two provinces, Pamphagonia and
Ivronia, the former of which is of the same length and
breadth as Great Britain (which I hope will not be taken as
any reflection), the other is equal to the High and Low Dutch
Lands. Both obey the same prince, are governed by the
same laws, and differ very little in their habit or their
manners.

274 CRAPULIA.

CHAPTER II.

Pamphagonia; or, Glutton's

PAMPHAGONIA is of a triangular figure, like that of ancient
Egypt, or the Greek letter delta, A. It is mountainous,
inclosed with very high hills : its soil is of the richest, so
that birds which come thither to feed, if they tarry but three
months, grow so very fat and weighty, that they cannot fly
back again over the mountains, but suffer themselves to be
taken up in the hand, and are as delicious as the ortolan or
the beccaficos of the Italians. And it is no wonder to them
who know that geese in Scotland are generated from leaves
fallen into the water, and believe the testimony of one of
our ambassadors, that in the north-east parts of the world
lambs grow upon stalks like cabbages and eat up the grass
all around about them, to find the same sort of provisions in
this country. Besides, the fish upon that coast are in such
plenty, and so voracious (whether they conform themselves
to the genius of the place and people, or presage to them-
selves the honour of so magnificent a sepulchre as was given
to Nero's turbot), that, as soon as the hook is cast in, they
press to it as the ghosts in Lucian did to Charon's boat,
and cling to the iron as miners do to a rope that is let
down when the light of their candle forbodes some malig-
nant exhalation,

The sea-ports, with which this country abounds more
than any other, are of no other use than to receive and take
in such things as are edible, which they have for their
superfluous wool and hides : nor may the inhabitants expott
anything that has the least relation to the palate. You see
nothing there but fruit-trees. They hate plains, limes, and
willows, as being idle and barren, and yielding nothing
useful but their shade. There are hops, pears, plums, and
apples, in the hedge-rows, as there is in all Ivro/iia ; from

CRAPUL1A. 275

whence the Lombards, and some counties in the west of
England, have learned their improvements. In ancient
times, . Frugonia, or the Land of Frugality, took in this
country as one of its provinces ; and histories tell us, that,
in Saturn's time, the Frugonian princes gave laws to all this
part of the world, and had their palace there ; and that
their country was called Fagonia, from the simplicity of their
diet, which consisted only in beech-mast. But that yoke
has been long ago shaken off ; their manners are wholly
changed, and, from the universality of their food, they
have obtained, in their own country language, the title of
Pamphagones.

CHAPTER III.
The First Brovince «f Pamphagonia.

FRIVIANDY, or Tight-bittia (that we may take the provinces
in their order), were it not for a temperament peculiar to the
place, is rather of the hottest to produce those who are pro-
perly called good trencher-men. Its utmost point, which other
geographers call the Promontory of the Terra Australis, is of
the same latitude as the most southerly parts of Castile, and
is about forty-two degrees distant from the equator. The
inhabitants have curled hair and dusky complexions, and
regard more the delicacy than the largeness and number of
their dishes. In this very promontory, which we shall call
the black one from its colour (for it is a very smoky region,
partly from the frequent vapours of the place, partly from
its vicinity to the Terra del Fogo, which, by the common
consent of geographers, lies on the right hand of it, but
rather nearer than they have placed it), is the city Lucina,
whose buildings are lofty, but apt to be smoky and offensive
to the smell ; from whence a colony went, perhaps, as far
as the Indies, where it remains to this day by the name of
Cochin-China.

276 CRAPULIA.

Here is the famous temple of the great deity Omasius
Gorgut, or Gorbelly. It is a vast pile, and contains a thou-
sand hearths, and as many altars, which are constantly
employed in the Rucal Festivals. In the midst is a high
pyramid, as lofty as the hand of man can erect it, little
inferior to those of Memphis. It is called the Cheminean
Tower. This, rising high, gives the signal of war to the
adjoining countries : for, as we by beacons lighted upon a
high hill discover the danger of an approaching enemy, so
these, on the contrary, do the same by letting their smoke
cease and their fires go out : for, when the perpetual vapour
ceases to roll forth in thick and dark clouds of smoke, it is
a token that the Hambrians are drawing nearer, than whom
there can be no enemy more terrible to this nation. There
are several smaller towns, that lie under the dominion of
this supreme city. Charbona is the largest village, and,
what is seldom seen elsewhere, lies all under ground. Upon
its barren soil arises another, though of less note, called
Favillia. After these lies Tenaille, a narrow town, and
Batillu, a broad one, both considerable. On the left are
some subservient petty hamlets, as Assadora, Marmitta,
Culliera, as useful for the reception of strangers, amongst
which, that of Marmitta is watered by the river Livenza ;
which, as is said of a fountain in the Peak of Derby, boils
over twice in four-and-twenty hours.

CHAPTER IV.

The Second Prwinu of PAmphagonia.

NEXT to this is the Golosinian district, the most pleasant
part of Pamphagonia, covered with dates, almonds, figs,
olives, pomegranates, oranges, citrons, and pistaches ; through
which run the smoothest of streams, called the Oglium.
Here is the beautiful city of Marzapane, with noble turrets

CRAPUUA. 47?

glittering with gold, but lying too open to the enemy.
Over it hang the Zucker hills, out of whose bowels they
draw something that is hard, white, and sparkling, but
sweet as that moisture which the ancients gathered out of
the reeds which grew in Arabia and the Indies. You shall
find few people here, who are grown up, but what have lost
their teeth, and have stinking breaths. Near to this is
the little city Seplasium, which admits of no tradesmen but
'perfumers. It is a town of great commerce with the people
of Viraginia, especially the Locanians, who use to change
their looking-glass with them for oils and pastils. The
agreeableness of the place, and the bounty of the heavens,
is favourable to their art ; for the whole track of land, at
certain seasons, is covered with aromatic comfits, that fall
like hail-stones : which Anathumiasis I take to be essentially
the same as that aerial honey which we often find upon our
oaks, especially in the spring, and that it differs only in
thickness ; for whereas that honey is sprinkled in drops, the
little globules are hardened by the intense cold of the
middle region, and rebound in falling.

CHAPTER V.

Of the Third Province of Pamphagonia,*,

IN the fifty-fifth degree, we come into the plains of Lecania,
and so into the very heart of Pamphagonia, where the chief
city we meet with is Cibinium, which is washed with the
acid streams of the river Assagion. In the forum, or
market-place, is the tomb (as I conjecture by the footsteps
of some letters now remaining) of Apicius, that famous
Roman, not very beautiful, but antique. It is engraved
upon the shell of a sea- crab ; and it might happen, notwith-
standing what Seneca says, that this famous epicure, after
having sought for larger shell-fish than the coast of Gallia

syg CRAPULtA.

could supply him with, and then going in vain to Africa to
make a farther inquiry, might hear some rumour concerning
this coast, steer his course thither, and there die of a surfeit.
But this I leave to the critics. Here I shall only mention
the most fertile fields of Lardana and Ossulia. The
delicious situation of Mortadella, the pleasantest of places,
had wonderfully delighted me, had it not been for the salt-
works which often approach too near it. There is an offer*
sive stinking town called Formagium, alias Butterboxia, and
Mantica, a boggy place near the confines of Ivronia.

I hasten to the metropolis of the whole region, which,
whether you respect the uniformity of the building, thfr
manners of the people, or their way of living, their rules for
behaviour, their law and justice, will show as much as if I
were to descend to particulars.

CHAPTER VI.

Of the Metropolis of Pamphagonia, and the Cusioms of the Inhabitantt.

THERE are but very few villages in this country, as well as
in some others; from whence a traveller may conjecture,
that the country towns are devoured by the cities, which
are not so many in number as they are large and populous ;
of which the mother and governess is called Artocreopolis.
The report goes, that in ancient times there were two famous
cities, Artopolis and Creatium, which had many and long
contests about the superiority : for so it happens to places,
as well as men, that increase in power ; insomuch as the
two most flourishing Universities in the world (to both of
which I bear the relation of a son, though I am more
peculiarly obliged to one of them for my education), not-
withstanding they are sisters, could not abstain from so
ungrateful a contention.

Artopolis boasted of its antiquity, and that it had flou-

C&APULIA. 4?9

rished in the Saturnian age, when it had as yet no rival.
Creatium set forth its own splendour, pleasantness, and
power. At last, a council being called, Creatium got the
preference by the universal votes of the assembly ; for such
is the iniquity of the times, that though the head be covered
with grey hairs, yet nothing is allowed to the reverence of
antiquity, when encountered by a proud and upstart novelty.
The other city is now so far neglected, that the ruins or
footsteps of its magnificence are scarce remaining, any more
than of Verulam, as is most elegantly set forth by our noble
poet Spenser in his verses on that subject; the latter usurp-
ing the name of the other, as well as the other has now the
double title of Artocreopolis. The city is more extensive
than beautiful : it is fortified with a large and deep ditch of
running water, which washes almost all the streets, wherein
are a thousand several ponds for fish ; upon which swim
ducks, geese, swans, and all sorts of water-fowl, which has
been wisely imitated by the people of Augsburg. This ditch
is called Gruessa. There are two walls, whose materials
were furnished by the flesh-market ; for they are made of
bones, the larger serving for the foundations, the lesser for
the superstructure, whilst the smallest fill up what is wanting
in the middle ; being all cemented with the whites of eggs,
by a wonderful artifice. The houses are not very beautiful,
nor built high after the manner of other cities ; so that there
is no need of an Augustus to restrain the buildings to the
height of seventy feet, as was done at Rome ; nor is there
room for a Seneca or Juvenal to complain of the multi-
tude of their stairs and number of their stories.

They have no regard for staircases ; for indeed none of
the citizens care for them, partly from the trouble of getting
up them (especially when, as they often do, they have drunk
heartily) as much as for the danger of getting down again.
Their houses are all covered with large • blade-bones, very
neatly joined together. There are no free citizens admitted,

3$o CRAPULlA.

but such whose employment has more immediately some
relation to the table. Husbandmen, smiths, millers, and
butchers, live in their colonies, who, when they have a belly
of an unwieldy bulk, are promoted to be burgesses ; to
which degree none were anciently admitted but cooks,
bakers, victuallers, and the gravest senators, who are
chosen here, as in other places, not for their prudence,
riches, or length of beard ; but for their measure, which they
must come up to yearly if they will pretend to bear any
office in the public. As any one grows in dimensions, he
rises in honour ; so that I have seen some who, from the
meanest and most contemptible village, have, for their
merits, been promoted to a more famous town, and at last
obtained the senatorial dignity in this most celebrated city :
and yet, when by some disease (as it often happens), or by
age, they have grown leaner than they are allowed to be by
the statutes, have lost their honour, together with the bulk
of their carcass. Their streets were paved with polished
marble ; which seemed strange amongst a people so in-
curious, both because the workmanship was troublesome,
and there might be danger in its being slippery. But the
true reason of it was, that they might not be forced to lift
their feet higher than ordinary by the inequality of the pave-
ment, and likewise that the chairs of the senators might the
more easily be pushed forward ; for they never go on foot,
or on horseback, nor even in a coach, to the exchange, or
their public feasts, because of their weight ; but they are
moved about in great easy elbow-chairs, with four wheels
to theiJi} and continue sitting so fixed, in the same pos-
ture, snoring and flabbering till they are wheeled home
again.

At the four gates of the city, whose form is circular, there
sit in their turns as many senators, who are called Buscadores.
These carefully examine all who come in and go out, those that
go out, lest they should presume by chance to do it fasting,

CR APULIA. 281

which they can easily judge of by the extent oi their bellies, and
the matter being proved, they are fined in a double supper :
those that come in, to see what they bring with them upon their
return ; for they must neither depart with empty stomachs,
nor come back with empty hands. Every rno.nth, according
to the laws, which they unwillingly transgress, there are
stated feasts, at which all the senators are obliged to be
present, that after dinner (for no person can give his vote
before he has dined) they may deliberate concerning the
public affairs. The name of their common-hall is Pythanos-
come. Every one knows his own seat, and his conveniences
and a couch to repose upon when the heat of their wine and
seasoned dainties incline them to it. Their greatest deli-
cacies are served up at the first course ; for they tkink it
foolish not to eat the best things with the greatest appetite :
nor do they cut their boars, sheep, goats, and lambs into
joints or quarters, as commonly we do, but convey them
whole to table, by the help of machines, as I remember to
have read in Petronius Arbiter. They are fineable who rise
before they have set six hours ; for then the edge of their
stomach is blunted. They eat and drink so leisurely, for
the same reason as the famous Epicure of old wished that
his neck were as long as a crane's. They measure the
seasonable time for their departure after this method : they
have a door to their town-house, which is wide enough for
the largest man to enter when he is fasting : through this the
guests pass ; and when any one would depart, if he stops in
this passage, he is trusted to go out at another door ; but if
it be as easy as if he were fasting, the master of the cere-
monies makes him tarry till he comes to be of a statutable
magnitute : after which example, Willfrid's needle in Belvior
Castle was a pleasant trial of Roman Catholic sanctity. They
have gardens of many acres extent, but not like those of
Adonis or Alcinoiis ; for nothing delightful is to be expected
in them, neither order, nor regularity of walk, nor grass-plots,

z§2 CRAPUL1A.

nor variety of flowers in the borders : but you will find all
planted with cabbages, turnips, garlick, and musk-melons,
which were carried hence to Italy, and are in quantity suf-
ficient to feast an hundred Pythagoreans.

There is a public college, or hospital, whither they are
sent who have got the dropsy, gout, or asthma, by their eat-
ing and drinking ; and there they are nourished at the public
expense. As for such as have lost their teeth by their
luxury, or broken them by eating too greedily or incautiously,
they are provided for in the island of Sorbonia. All the
richer sort have several servants, in the nature of vassals, to
cultivate their gardens, and be employed in inferior offices,
who have their liberty when they can arrive at such a
bulkiness. If wny of the grandees of the country die of a
surfeit, he is given, as being all made up of the most exquisite
dainties, to be eaten up by his servants ; and this they do
that nothing should be lost that is so delicate. The men are
thick and fat to a miracle; nor will any one salute another
whose chin does not come to the midst of his breast, and his
paunch falls to his knees. The women are not unlike them,
and in shape resemble the Italians, and have breasts like
the Hottentots. They go almost naked, having no regard to
their garments. The magistrates and persons of better figure
have gowns made of the skins of such beasts as they have
eaten at one meaL All wear a knife, with a large spoon,
hanging upon their right arm. Before their breasts they
wear a smooth skin, instead of a napkin, to receive what
falls out of their mouths, and to wipe them upon occa-
sion ; which whether it be more black or greasy, is hard to
determine.

They are of a very slow apprehension, and no way fit for
any science ; but yet understand such arts as they have oc-
casion for. Their schools are public-houses, where they are
educated in the sciences of eating, drinking, and carving ;
over which, one Archisilenius, an exquisite Epicure, was then

CRAPULIA. 2$3

provost, who, instead of grammar, read some fragments of
Apicius. Instead of a library, there is a public repository of
drinking-vessels, in which cups of all orders and sizes are
disposed into certain classes. Cups and dishes are instead
of books. The younger scholars have less, the elder have
greater; one has a quart, the other a pottle, the other a
gallon: this has a hen, that a goose, a third a lamb or a
porker: nor have they any liberty, or recess, till the
whole is finished ; and if by a seven years' stuffing they are no
proficients in fatness, are presently banished into the Fan-
cetic Islands ; nor are they suffered long to stay there idle
and without improvement. Hither likewise are sent all physi-
cians who prescribe a course of diet to any person. When
any one is sick, without recourse to ^Esculapius, they make
him eat radish, and drink warm water ; which, according to
Celsus, will purge and vomir mm. Venison is that which
they most delight in ; but they never take it in hunting, but
by nets and gins. They look upon the swine as the most
profitable and best of all animais ; whether it is for the like-
ness of its manners, as being good for nothing but the table,
or else from its growing fat on the sudden with the worst of
nutriment. It may not seem credible, yet parsimony
appears in the midst of their profuseness : but then it is very
ill placed, for it is in crumbs, bones, and crusts. They do
not so much as keep any dogs, cats, hawks, or anything
that eats flesh. If any person suffer meat to stink, he is im-
paled ; but venison and rabbits are to have the haut-gout:
and then their cheese is kept till it is overrun with little
animals, which they devour with mustard and sugar. This
is an odd sort of custom, derived from the Dutch.

The country abounds with rivers, which ebb and flow
according to their digestion, and generally overflow at the
beginning of January, and towards the end of February, and
do mischief to the neighbouring country.

284 CRAPULIA.

CHAPTER VII.

Of the Wars of the Pamphagonians.

THE Pamphagones have perpetual wars with the Hambrians,
or the Fancetic Islands, and the Frugonians.

* * # * * 4ft

Catera dcsunt.

THE END.

Broad A Co.. Printers. 8 Kin? St.r.-pf, Richmond, Surrey.